Chapter 12:
“It’s time, and nobody’s here yet.”
Jessica managed to squash her impatience as she peeked around the corner of the banquelle, a tall standing bridge that arched over the wide underground river that was harvested by above grounders through the hard labor of the below grounders, who were not allowed to drink of it, or to bathe in it either.
The below grounders had a recycle water facility that pumped used water from the above grounders and into the below sinks and toilets. The penalty for drinking from the river was automatic death. The surface of the water had been electrified, and any who dared to dip even a hand into it died as soon as their fingers or cups touched that shimmering surface.
Just one more injustice she had always wanted to right.
Once upon a time she had wanted to save that planet from its cruel caste system and its federation overseers. Now she wanted to save it from an even worse fate. So where were the goddamn stamps she needed?
“Worker above, watch your heads, nobody can cross the banquelle due to work.”
The words were muffled and came from above. Her eyes went up. A worker swung along the beams, his booted feet resting on a slim metal knot in the long cord that the workers used to climb.
She blinked and looked away. A small packet fluttered in the air, and she grabbed at it, cupping her palm to conceal that packet as the worker went by then upward, climbing fast toward the spiked upper walkway.
“Let’s go.”
Talon had seen the exchange, and they headed off quickly. Her shoulders tensed constantly. The below was a mass of stores with no credit but real credit signs in the windows, recruiter offices for work labor, pawn buildings—many with women and children standing in front of them in ragged lines.
Talon asked, “Why do they let men pawn but not women?”
Her smile was bitter. “Good question. One I never understood. Women and kids can be pawned or outright sold but men, unless they’re minor boys, can’t be and the only ones who can pawn their kids are men. Maybe it’s because most women would not pawn their children and the Federation knows it. My father burned his hand and was unable to work, and he pawned me for a year’s service to get the credits he needed to have it rapi-healed so he could work.”
His hand touched the small of her back. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I got a job working in those tunnels, cleaning trash. That’s how I met our friend. I saved him and some of his friends after one of them decided it would be a lot of fun to see if the tunnels they had heard of were real or not.”
“That’s why you hate those rats.”
His hand rested on her arm again, and her heart hurt almost as much as her memories. “Yes. I saw three adults die my first day down there when they got scared, and their fear drew a massive swarm. I ran. I ran away, up the ropes into the perches where the rats could not climb and I…I just watched them die.”
Talon stopped walking. His hand stopped her feet as well. He turned her to face him. His voice was soft. “It wasn’t your fault.”
The hard lump in her throat was salty and bitter. “I should have helped them to live.”
“How old were you?”
Her throat worked, but the lump did not go down at all. “Seven.”
“And they were grownups, Jessica. You were a child. You had no weapons and no skills, and all you could do was save yourself. You did that and because you did that you have been able to save a great many people. Stop blaming yourself for their deaths.”
How had he known that she did? Nobody knew that. Not Yori, not anyone. “I…I don’t know if I can.”
He drew her into a small alley between a drink house and a washaterium. “Do you know how many people I saw die when my planet died? I saw children swept into the sea. I saw men I knew go deep into the earth that split open and swallowed them, and women and more children died that way too. I stood in med-bays and heard them screaming in pain and dying. I watched those who could not get aboard before the warp happened to try to make it to ships already lifted off and leaving them behind and I have never, not once, forgotten those faces or the sound of their voices. I understand how you feel.”
Jessica had known that Talon had seen his home planet destroyed, but it had never occurred to her until just that moment that he would have seen so many of his people die. He did know how she felt. How could he not?
His fingers traced along her face and she shivered. His face was so close to hers, and his mouth parted slightly in what seemed an invitation for a kiss.
That was an invitation that she could not resist and did not resist. Her mouth found his, and her lips parted as his tongue stroked past her teeth and found her tongue. Her body pressed closer to his as her breath left her lungs in a slow breathy exhale.
The kiss lingered. It was passionate but soft and tender at the same time, and it soothed away the anguish of her memories: a welcome thing.
It was Talon who broke the kiss off. She stared at him as he said, “I’m sorry. I know you and Yori are… Well, I don’t know what you are… And I know that you don’t care about me. I care for you though, Jessica. Very much. If we manage to live through this, any of this, I would hope that one day you could care for me as well.”
An incredulous laugh sprang from her mouth. “I do care for you. I thought you cared nothing for me. No, that’s not right. I thought you regarded me with the same affection as you regard the rest of the crew. I thought you respected me as a warrior but had no want for me as a woman.”
