Chapter 40 #2
“The Unhil, the Garmman battleship above, dropped the cables they were going to use to lift the frame all the way from nearspace when they thought they were going to have to engage with the Illium. The falling cables killed seven and injured many more.” Fee watched Hardy, Trayla and Natta lift the stretcher.
Vunia took the fourth corner, and Fee stepped up to help Crin shift Baruke off the bed and onto it. Vunia had strapped a portable monitor to Baruke, and some kind of stick-on fluid bag, and his breathing hadn’t changed at all.
“How do you know the cables dropped because the Illium arrived?” Crin asked. “Were you outside when it happened?”
“No, Kilmar and Vira, the two leaders here, told me.”
“They knew it was the Illium?” Crin asked sharply.
Fee was about to say that Eazi had told her the battleship’s name, the Balcoans had just mentioned a Grihan battleship, when she changed her mind. “No. I assumed it was the Illium, because that’s the Grihan battleship present in this area. Do you think it was another ship?”
The other four were looking between them, trying to hide their surprise at the exchange.
“No, no.” Crin shook her head and took the lead out of the door. “I’m just interested in what they know and how they know it.”
“Yes, it’s going to be a mess working through everyone who helped them by leaking information,” Fee agreed.
A sound and a vibration started up as they made it to the foyer—a sort of groaning and a rumble.
Shit. The frame.
“They’re lifting the Class 5. We’ve got to move it!” Fee noticed the four carrying Baruke passed Crin as she stopped, head tilted as she listened to the noise.
Fee passed her as well, running ahead so that she could open the stairwell door for the stretcher.
She let the team through, glancing back to see where Crin was, but she had caught them up and grabbed the door from Fee, urging her through.
But their run of luck was over.
Whatever was going on above had caused numerous people to come into the base through the storage level stairwell.
Fee saw the Grih stop as the sound of footsteps running up toward them became clear, and she pushed her way to the front.
“Coming through with Leader Baruke, keep to the side,” she called out, running to meet the Balcoans.
The Grih followed her, and as she came face-to-face with the Balcoan workers, everyone hesitated.
The builders were covered in streaks of dirt, on their faces, on their hands, and all over their clothes. They brought the smell of hot sand and sweat in with them.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“A cable started to come loose, so we had to stop the lift and reattach,” one of them said. “Now we’re getting clear.”
She nodded, gestured to the Grih to follow her, and kept going.
The Balcoans pressed up against the wall and turned to watch as Baruke was carried past them.
“It really is the leader,” one murmured. “What happened to him?”
“Ask Kilmar,” Fee called back. “This is his doing.”
She was just passing the door to the storage area, and Kilmar, as if summoned by mention of his name, came through.
She didn’t hesitate, she flicked her silver rod at him. He gave a shout of pain as he stumbled back. The door was still partly open and she shoved him back through it and then pressed up against it, giving the Grih team room to pass with the stretcher.
“That’s the boss,” she said. “We’ve run out of time.”
Trayla nodded as they passed, and Fee looked up the stairs.
The Balcoans were still standing in a line up the steps, looking down with shocked faces, and Crin ran past them and joined her on the landing.
“What did you do to him?” she asked.
“Surprised him, more than anything,” she said. “I hit him with this and then shoved him back out.” She lifted her silver rod.
She saw Crin dismiss it as a weapon, nod, and then wait for her to keep going down.
“I’ll take the rear,” Crin said.
“Thanks.” She’d broken Kilmar’s leg, she knew. And she still couldn’t put her finger on why she hadn’t been more forthcoming with Crin.
They ran through the maintenance area and Fee found the way back up the air tunnel uncomfortably hot and steep. The Grih were in better shape than she was, though, and Crin moved ahead, taking point with her shockgun in case of frien, and Fee found herself taking up the rear.
She thought she heard the scrabble of sand behind her, but when she turned, there was nothing but shadows.
“You can come with us,” she whispered to the darkness. “I can get you home.”
The grahudi didn’t show itself, and Fee realized she was being fanciful, because it was extremely doubtful the grahudi could understand her.
She turned back and ran to catch up. The team were stopped, adjusting something on the stretcher, and Crin stood guard over them.
There was something off about her stance, but Fee couldn’t put her finger on what.
She moved past them, finally catching sight of the gate.
“Is the gate still open?” she asked Eazi in English.
“Yes. You can go straight through.”
She turned to let the others know, and found Crin watching her, shockgun raised in a way that only made sense if—
She stood, still with shock, and Trayla, noticing her expression, turned and made a sound in her throat that had everyone spinning around.
“So now we know who was leaking,” Fee said. “It was you, Lieutenant Crin.”
“Crin is a traitor?” Eazi’s voice was flat in her ear.
“So what’s your plan?” Fee asked.
“I don’t know.” Crin lifted a shoulder. “I was trying to think of a way to stop Baruke being taken from the med bay, but I hoped we’d run into someone on base who would stop us, and that would allow me to keep my cover. Unfortunately, I’ve just run out of tunnel, and options.”
“You must have been very disappointed when I got rid of Kilmar,” Fee said.
“I don’t even know who Kilmar is,” Crin said. “I only know the Distani plotters and I couldn’t contact anyone for instructions because I had to damage our comms so I had a justifiable reason to ignore HQ orders.”
“Wait. Were you behind my abduction and torture?” Natta’s tone was shocked. “And when Trayla and I were grabbed at the market and drugged?”
Crin’s mouth twisted. “I was told you were in the field and couldn’t make contact, but I saw you in the city with Fiona Russell and followed you.
I might not have been able to ask you questions without creating suspicion, but our group’s city team didn’t have the same restrictions.
And the other time, I just needed an excuse to stop buying parts that were going to go straight back to Paxe. ”
“Why were you involved in this, though?” Fee tightened her grip on the silver rod.
“I was part of the original group Councilor Fu-tama put together to study the blueprints for the Class 5s. I still believe we’ve held ourselves back with our refusal to consider using thinking systems since the wars.
And this was an opportunity to recreate one in the original spirit of what Fu-tama was trying to achieve.
The Tecran did something wrong, something that allowed the thinking systems to get away from them, but we were going to make sure we didn’t make the same mistake. ”