Chapter 5
Five
A murmur disguised as an omen brushed the periphery of Gus’s senses. Easily ignored by someone else. Someone bolder and more assured.
Gus, though, was neither of those things. She was cautious and had learned to pay attention when the universe spoke.
Anandra tensed as he noticed her expression. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Gus held up a hand, asking for patience as she listened.
Strangers. A lot of them. Their hearts filled with a darkness that was echoed by the wicked thoughts in their heads.
The legs of Gus’s chair screeched as she shoved it back.
Anandra watched with bewilderment as she dashed into her workroom, grabbing the signal scanner from where she’d carelessly stashed it on a shelf.
“What are you doing?” Anandra asked, trailing behind Gus as she stalked through the kitchen and back into the entryway to where the bodies still were.
Please let me be wrong, Gus whispered in her heart.
Waving the scanner over the body, she cursed when it beeped as soon as it passed over an arm.
“You mildew infested swine,” Gus hissed.
Her knife. Where was her knife?
Unfortunately, there were none lying around. There was, however, a pair of garden shears sitting on one of the tables from the last time she’d decided to prune the plants in here.
Gus grabbed them. “You’ll do.”
Adapt and overcome. That was a motto somewhere, wasn’t it?
“What are you—?” Anandra blanched as Gus stabbed the tip of the shears into the man’s bicep. She wiggled them around, none too gentle as she widened the wound.
You’d be surprised how versatile garden shears were. They could easily sever a finger, along with the branches they were intended for.
Using the scanner as a guide, Gus dug around until she judged the wound deep enough. Tossing aside the shears, Gus stuck her fingers into the man’s bicep and felt for what she suspected was there.
Almost. Almost.
Something bumped against her fingertips.
Got you!
She closed her fingers around the thumbtack sized device, yanking it out and holding it up to the light for study.
“Of course, they were tagged,” Gus growled.
Gussy, you nincompoop of a spiderwort. What were you thinking?
Protocol demanded she scan them for signal transmitters before bringing them into her home.
But with everything that had happened, and these three’s companions threatening to discover them, she hadn’t had time.
Then Caius attacking her as soon as she’d walked through the door had further thrown her off her game, leading to the situation as it stood now.
This was the biggest difference between her and people like Kira. Gus was easily flustered; like any normal civilian. Kira never was.
“What does that mean?” Anandra asked with an expression that said he already knew. Or at least suspected.
“We have to go.”
Gus hurled the tracker back into the container with the rest of the bodies. She was so fucking angry at herself. A moment’s inattention had cost her the home she’d spent years building.
Moving back into her living quarters, Gus’s thoughts turned from the grief and rage of being driven from her sanctuary to what she needed to gather before they departed.
Did she even have time?
Possibly.
One of the first modifications she’d made upon moving in was reinforcing the walls with signal jammers.
Her paranoia had led her to go a step further and install them in multiple spots in the docks.
It was why the docks of Titan were known as something of a communication desert and what made them a popular venue for clandestine meetings.
She couldn’t completely black out the docks without drawing unwelcome attention, but it should be enough to buy her some time. If she was lucky, the tracker in those men’s arms wouldn’t be able to give off an exact location.
It would, however, give their friends a place to start looking.
Needing to know just how much time she had, Gus placed her palm on the nearest wall and waited for it to verify her identity. “Perimeter security feeds.”
Anandra made a sound of amazement as half a dozen feeds featuring the surrounding area popped into view.
Gus scanned them quickly, stilling at the sight of the rather large group of humans systematically clearing the bank of containers next to her own. From the way they moved, it was easy to see they’d had military training.
At the sight of them going in and out of each container on the ground floor, Gus relaxed slightly. Her signal jammers had done their job, only giving them a general location.
“They’re coming from aft,” Gus murmured.
That way lay the night garden. They’d have to go through it to reach the rest of the complex unless they went around.
Good.
Her dearies would thin the herd before the rest breached her living quarters, giving her a chance to maybe survive.
Gus’s fingers danced over the virtual keyboard, triggering a lock down everywhere but the Tuann gardens and the section she currently stood in.
“That should buy us some time,” she said.
“What did you do?” Anandra asked, turning to keep her in view as she headed for the small cupboard containing her go bag.
“I made it so they’ll have to burn through my security doors to proceed.”
Hopefully, they hadn’t brought explosives.
Gus grabbed the small backpack and a couple of cloaks. The first of which she wrapped around Anandra. She fastened the second around her neck, but didn’t raise the hood yet.
“What is this?” Anandra asked, feeling the fabric curiously.
“Something that will protect you.”
Gus didn’t want to tell him that it was made of ethieri. A rare Tuann material carrying anti-ballistic properties.
“You ask too many questions,” Gus added.
She wondered if it was a product of his upbringing, since she’d never had this many when she was young. Or now, for that matter.
Gus shouldered the bag and headed toward the Tuann garden entrance.
“Don’t fall behind,” she ordered.
She wasn’t Kira. There would be no sacrificing on her part if he failed to heed her warning.
The trees were abuzz with worry as Gus darted beneath their canopy, making her way back to Caius’s side. He lay as still and unmoving as he’d been earlier. Kneeling beside him, she scanned his body with a critical eye. Not much healing had been done in the hour or two she’d been away.
Moving him was out of the question. As was leaving him behind.
That put her in something of a bind. Unable to fight. Unable to run.
She could call one of the cargo trawlers and have it meet her outside. Admittedly, not a great option since trawlers were as slow as Titan’s admin staff.
In a foot chase, she’d be caught immediately.
Gus was still agonizing over her nonexistent choices when the branch of the choko tree Caius lay under brushed her cheek. She looked up to find it offering her a tiny, glistening dew drop that was nestled on the very tip of the branch. Inside the white flower it had forced into bloom.
“No.” Gus recoiled in horror. “I would never ask that of you.”
She knew what that drop represented. What it was. The tree’s essence. Its soul’s breath given form and substance. Offered freely with no expectation of return.
Because of Gus. Because of her needs.
“Put it away,” Gus pleaded.
That drop would fast track Caius’s healing, turning what should have taken hours into mere minutes.
The price, however, was the tree’s lifespan.
Her oldest and dearest friend. The first Tuann tree she’d nurtured.
The one that had brought peace to her soul, quenching her loneliness after an eternity of thirst.
The tree’s branch tipped, that dewdrop clinging to its flower for one poignant second. Gus made a raw sound as the drop fell.
Down.
Down.
It splashed onto Caius’s forehead, absorbing instantly. His cheeks flushed with improved blood flow. The wounds on his torso began to heal right in front of their eyes. His bruises faded and his breathing steadied.
As fast as he recovered was how quick the tree withered. Its branches becoming brittle and dry. It flowers shriveling. Leaves falling one by one.
Gus crawled forward to press her hands against its trunk in a futile attempt at replacing what was lost.
It wasn’t enough. Her pool much too small. The tree’s needs far too great.
The choko tree blocked her attempt, brushing the only branch still remaining against Gus’s cheek. A final goodbye.
The words “Don’t go” remained locked behind her lips. Unsaid but not unheard. She felt the tree’s joy. Its lack of regrets. Death wasn’t something its kind understood. For them, there were no endings. Only new beginnings.
The branch withered. But not before making one last offering.
A seed. Its child.
She took it, tucking it into her pocket. She rolled to her feet, stepping back to watch her friend’s end. Its essence gone. Locked in Caius and the seed she’d received.
An explosion came from the perimeter.
Throwing a glance in that direction, Gus knelt beside Caius. “Now, look here—I’ve sacrificed an awful lot on your behalf so it’s about time for you to wake up. Otherwise, you and the boy will die.”
Gus probably would too, but she doubted he cared about that.
Caius’s eyes opened. He rocketed from unconscious to conscious in an instant. No down time. No, where am I? Or, what’s happening? Just a fully alert Tuann who was looking at her as if deciding whether her life was worth preserving.
“Finally,” Gus said, composing herself.
She made no offer of assistance as Caius sat up. Slowly. Gingerly. His forehead creasing in confusion at the lack of pain. Frowning, he swept a gaze over the forest, taking in trees that would be as familiar to him as en-blades and synth armor.
When he was asleep, Gus had missed how attractive he was. Now that he was awake, it was inescapable. Unpleasantly smacking her in the face every time she got a glimpse of that annoying expression of his.