Ice Runner (3 page)

“How are the financials?”

“The coffers are full enough now to last us for four years. If you keep working on that Yola-Teckaro run, we will have enough for another year in just a few runs. They pay a lot.” In her underwear, her padded suit lying across the apartment, Kes wrinkled her nose. “I am going for a quick shower, but can I get one of you to wake me so I can spend some time at the thermal bathes tonight?”

Kema frowned. “Is it bad?”

“A little more than I am comfortable with. It is quite distracting to have to keep pulling it in.”

“I will wake you in three hours. I was able to bring in enough water and snacks for you to consume before you rest. Have a nap. I am sure that Eera will get you up the moment she gets home from classes.”

Kes grinned. “I will be disappointed if she doesn’t. Right. Shower first, food then nap. I have my itinerary.”

She followed her itinerary to the letter and soon found herself snug in bed with the smells of dinner lulling her to sleep.

She felt Eera’s stare before her little sister woke her by voice. “Time to wake up, ancient one.”

“That is very creepy, Eera.”

“It works, so I am keeping it.” Chuckling, Kescu sat up, confirmed she had put a clean sleep shirt on and extended her arms for a hug.

Eera fell into her arms and hugged her with a determination that let Kescu know she was still too hot. “It’s okay, shorty. You can let go now.”

Eera sat near her knees. “You are very warm today. Are you sick?”

“No. Just tired. I did two runs to get here to spend an extra day with you before the assembly on Fiveday. I ran a little hot.” Eera tsked just like their mother did. “You aren’t supposed to overdo it.”

“I know. I am sorry. I just needed some time with my loving family.”

“I forgive you. Do you need any water?”

“Please. I am going to get dressed.” Kescu slid her trembling limbs out of bed, and she walked to her dresser, pulling out some soft, flowing trousers, a loose tunic and a bright sash.

She peeled off the sleep shirt, replaced her old underwear with fresh clothing and got dressed. A pair of low boots that rose to mid-calf where she tucked the trousers in to blouse out, and she was dressed like a normal woman of Corial City. Her skin was the only main difference.

Eera waddled in with the pitcher full to the brim with water, and she carefully set it on the table next to Kescu’s bed.

“Mom is making stew and bread for you. She says that they are your favourite on rough days. I think she even bought some fresh meat for you.” Kescu was humbled. “That was so sweet. I was just going to run the snack alley and buy everything deep fried.”

Eera’s features were suddenly disappointed. “I guess you don’t have to now, huh?” She chuckled. “Have to… no. Want to? Oh yes.” Her sister laughed with delight. “Can I come too?”

“Of course. I need you to lead me in my sleep-deprived state.” Kes winked at her sister and grabbed her, swinging her around in circles.

Kescu walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table with Eera doing homework at her side.

Their mom made the stew, and the scent of bread was wafting from the oven. Kema worked with a smile on her face while Kes helped Eera with her studies.

Finally, Kema asked, “Have you met anyone interesting in the last few days, Kes?” Kescu felt heat run up her cheeks. “No, why?”

“There was a message from Dr. Senzer about a Dr. Wender asking about you.” Kema coloured as she always did after speaking with Senzer.

Kes was hoping that she could see if the two had any chemistry in person. They would be a good match, and her mother had been alone for long enough.

“Oh. Dr. Wender. Yes, he’s an off-worlder doing botany research with Senzer.” Kescu sipped at the tea her mother served her.

Eera looked up with wide eyes. “An alien? You saw a real-life alien?”

Kes reached out and ruffled her sister’s hair. “I see one every time I look in the mirror, sweetie.” The eight-year-old huffed. “Not like you. You are my sister. What did he look like, what kind was he?”

“We aren’t kinds, we are species.” She gave Eera a serious look.

“Species. What species is he?” Kes sighed. “I don’t know. He has gold-green skin, green eyes and dark brown hair.” Kema clattered the utensils, and Kes looked at her. “Gold-green skin, you say?” Kes nodded. “Yes. Like light filtered through the trees. Very pretty colour, really.”

“But, you just delivered the parcel and left. Correct?”

She scowled. “No, Mom, I stayed the night on his couch. I left in the morning.”

“Did anything… happen?”

Eera was staring from one to the next.

“No, Mom. I went to bed in my running suit. Woke up in it too.”

Kema let out a blast of relieved air and returned to cooking.

Kescu made a mental note to quiz her mother about her strange reaction later. The loaf of bread came out of the oven, so Kes got to her feet and set the table.

Ten minutes later, Eera’s homework was set aside and they ate together as a family. It was a rare occurrence lately. Kes’s work kept her out most nights now that the researchers were using her for scheduled deliveries.

Wanlio 6 was inhospitable for the most part, but the environment was ideal for experiments for the worst-case scenarios, as well as a pure atmosphere.

After dinner, Kes made sure that Eera had completed her homework before she asked their mother, “May I take Eera to the food stalls?” Kema turned slowly and looked them both up and down. Kescu and Eera put on earnest expressions.

“Fine. Bring me a sugar tangle.” Kema waved them off and turned to put the dishes away.

Not wanting to tempt fate, Kes grabbed a giggling Eera under one arm and took her out of the house before Mom could change her mind.

Sugar was waiting and after that, some time in the baths. Just what an overheated body needed.

A
fter several judicious selections, they sat at one of the public tables and went over their treasures, one at a time.

Kes looked around and smiled at the couples, families and teens that were doing the same. The analytical part of her looked at the ice walls of the main bazaar and gauged the density of the ice as well as the weight on the shielding that held it back.

“Kes, what is it, you got all serious all of a sudden.” Eera was wearing most of her frosted ice, and Kes sighed and gave her a napkin.

“Nothing. Just boring stuff.”

“Oh, grown-up stuff.”

“Yup. How are you and Mom doing with me away so much?” Kes tore off a piece of deep fried and sugared bread.

“It gets boring, but I get to have friends over more.” Eera shrugged as if it was a fair trade off.

“Did you know Mom used to be a genetic manipulator like Dr. Senzer? They know each other.”

Kes coughed. “What?”

“It’s true. Mom didn’t think I was awake, but she talked with Dr. Senzer about
stress-based
reversal
or something. He asked her why she quit doing genetic research, and she told him to zip it if he wanted to keep you on contract. He promised to shut up, and they stopped the call. Mom picked me up and tucked me in bed, and I couldn’t really ask her about what she had said.” Kescu straightened. “I see. Well, don’t worry about it. Hey, tomorrow, when I do the talk, are you willing to have me say hello to you, or do you want to play it cool?”

Eera sniffed. “You are my sister and I love you, but be a little circumspect. That’s a new word I just learned. Mom wants me to memorize it.” Kes laughed and took a napkin to Eera’s nose.

An hour later, with their mom’s sugar tangles in a bag, they walked home, Eera vibrating with energy. It was a perk to being an older sister that she was allowed to wind up the little sister and set her loose on the world, or in this case, their mother.

Kes smiled and pushed away the words
stress-based reversal
until she could be in private with Kema. Her mother needed to explain how and why she quit her job in genetics.

That could wait for tomorrow.

She faced the sea of small faces and explained ice running once again. “I have metal plates on my feet, and my body heat melts the ice enough to make a small puddle of water, and if you have ever walked in water on ice, it is darned slippery.” Kescu did the demonstration on a block of ice.

She put a metal plate on the ice and a hot cup of tea on top of that. After a few seconds, the plate began to slide, and it headed for the edge of the block with increasing speed. Kes caught the cup before it fell, and the metal plate clattered to the ground.

“That is the basic method by which it works. I also use a kite when the wind is right, and it pulls me along at quite a pace.” She turned and activated a display of her cruising across the ice holding onto the kite.

When she turned and faced the school children, an image of her running was on her right with the image of her kiting on the left. “Any questions?” Thirty kids put their hands up in the air. She pointed to one at random. “Yes?”

“Why can you go outside dressed like that when we have to use survival suits?”

“As you may have noticed, I am not from around here.” She pressed her hand to the surface of the ice and melted it with her body heat. “I generate heat, all the time. I channel it when I run. Anything else?”

One of the girls from Eera’s class raised her hand. “Why don’t you look like Eera?”

“I am adopted. Eera’s mother and father took me in when I was little and raised me like their own. I am not blue, but I am part of the family.” The same girl frowned and put her hand back in the air. “Where are your parents?”

“I don’t know. I guess they are dead, but since I don’t know what I am, I can’t be sure of it.”

“How can you not know what you are?” The girl found this unfathomable.

“What are you?”

“Wanlian.”

“How do you know that is what you are?” Kescu smiled and cocked her head.

“My mom told me… oh.” The girl nodded and several other heads bobbed in agreement.

Kescu sighed and smiled at the principal.

He came over and nodded. “Thank you, Kescu Washley, for showing us why you are the Ice Runner.”

The assembly applauded, and Kescu walked off the stage with a whispered apology for the water on the platform.

She waited until after the final demonstration from a dentist and gave Eera a hug before the lunch bell rang. Career day was a bitch.

At home, she went through her correspondence, messaged a few people who had been trying to contact her and generally goofed off.

“Mom, when am I heading back to Yola?”

“End of the week, Kes. They are booking you for weekly trips to Teckaro.” Kema frowned. “I am not sure we should take that contract.”

“Why not? It is far more lucrative and far less effort than most of the runs I do.”

“I don’t like that new researcher.” Kema fidgeted.

Kescu was shocked. “You haven’t met him. How can you say you don’t like him?” Kema scowled. “Why do you like him?” Kes shrugged and looked at her screen instead of her mother’s face across the partnership desk.

“He was friendly, and he showed me the experiment instead of locking me in the antechamber overnight like so many of them do. He even offered me his room so I would be more comfortable, but I stayed on his couch.”

“Did you leave any skin or hair samples?” Kes frowned and looked Kema in the eye. “I think I need to know what is going on here.”

“You aren’t from here. Your mother was a friend of mine, and when you were born, she asked if I would hide you by whatever means necessary.” She ran her hands through her hair, a gesture she saved for when she was truly agitated.

“What does that mean?”

“You aren’t really pink. I couldn’t find a trigger to make you match the Wanlian, so I matched a variety of species with your colouration.” Kes raised her hand and stared at it as if staring would change it. “What colour am I actually?” Kema looked away, her lips tight together.

“You know.”

“No, I really don’t. Are you saying that Dr. Wender is a match for my skin tone?” She shrugged, “More or less. You are more gold than green, and your eyes are blue-black, not green, to match your hair. I had to install the changes when you were an infant.”

“You haven’t been off Wanlio 6 longer than I have been alive. How did I get here?” Her mother sighed. “Bribery and a path of shuttles and ships that should have been untraceable.”

“You think Dr. Wender is here for me?” Kema clawed at her hair again. “I think Dr. Wender is looking for more than simple vegetable growth. The Citadel has no one registered to them by that name, but there is one of the Hanushivi who is in this sector. I am guessing that it is him.” Kescu looked at her hands again, “Hanushivi? Is that what I am?”

“Yes, and now, I am going to tell you why you can’t tell anyone.”

T
wo days later, Kescu was on the run from Yola to Teckaro. She repeated everything she had learned about the people who had birthed her and their desperation to hide her.

Kema and Lyrica had gone to some seminars in the Wanlio system. They had become fast friends.

Lyrica was heading home to be married to a man she had not met, and Kema was at the top of her game as a geneticist.

Five years later, Kema got an urgent message from Lyrica saying that the royal family of the Hanushivi wanted to kill her baby. She needed Kema to hide it and make all the arrangements.

Kema didn’t know why or who precisely was after the child, but she arranged a line of shuttles and ships, each handing off a small stasis pod under the guise of it being research material. The moment that she had signed for the shipment, she had taken little Kescu out of cold storage, and to her shock, the baby was wide awake and staring at her. She was dehydrated and hungrier than a boring worm, but once food had been settled, the baby had been quite happy to settle in with Kema and her husband.

Kescu stumbled and righted herself as she slid from foot to foot. She needed to keep her attention on the mission and not on her fanciful bloodlines.

Three hours out of Yola, she arrived and keyed in the courier code. “Teckaro Base, this is Courier Washley requesting permission to enter.”