Landfall (The Reach, Book 2) (16 page)

That had to be it.  Best not to waste her time even answering it.

Her thumb hovered over the cancel button, but she couldn’t bring herself to hit it.  The longer she stared at the screen, the more curiosity began to get the better of her.

What can it hurt?  Find out who it is.

She moved her thumb and hit the answer button instead.

“Hello?” she said, lifting the phone to her ear.

Unbelievably, the voice that answered sounded like Knile.

“Talia?  Thank god.  I’ve been calling you forever.”

“Who is this?” she said.

There was a dry chuckle. 
“What, you’ve forgotten me already?”

“Knile?”

“The one and only.”

“Where are you?  In Habitat One?”

“No.  A little way south of there.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m in the Reach.”

“Huh?  What’s going on?  What happened?  Was the passkey a fake?”

“No, it was real.”
  There was silence for a moment
.  “It’s a long story, Talia.  I’ll tell you the whole thing soon.  For now, all I can say is that I decided not to leave.  I came back for you.”

Her heart seemed to skip a beat.  “For me?”  She felt her cheeks flush, felt a little ripple course down her spine.  “What are you talking about?”

“I couldn’t leave by myself.  I came back for you and Roman.”

“I’m sorry,
Knile, I still haven’t found him.” Talia said.  “I’m going to need your help–”

“He’s fine,”
Knile assured her. 
“He’s right next to me, sleeping.  He’s been a little groggy, but he’s okay.”

“Huh?  What happened?  Why is he groggy?”

“I’ll explain that later, too.  We’re holed up in the Plant Rooms right now.  I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get you up here.”

“Yeah, about that,” she said, looking over her shoulder.  Crumb was nowhere to be seen.  “I ran into some trouble down here.”

“What’s up?”

“Some local hoods.  They saw the two of us heading into Grove the other day without ID.  They’ve got the idea in their heads that I have some kind of privileged access to the place, that I’m the key to the fortune of a lifetime.  They want to use me so they can steal loot from inside.”

“Are you okay?”

“Not really.  They gave me a good whack on the head, knocked me out and kidnapped me.  I only just managed to get out of there in one piece.”  She glanced behind again.  “They’re still on my tail.”

“Damn, are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious.  I don’t think they’ll be letting me slip through their fingers again if they catch me.”

There was silence again as Knile considered the options.  Talia heard a tapping sound, as if he were drumming a finger against his chin.

“We’ll meet you at the gates to the Reach,”
he said finally.

“No, Knile.  That’s a bad idea.  You shouldn’t risk it.”

“I told you I came back for you, Talia.  I’m not going to leave you in the dust again, especially when you’ve got those guys on your tail.”

“But if those Enforcers spot you–”

“They won’t.  I’ll figure something out.”

She screwed up her mouth.  “That doesn’t inspire me with a lot of confidence.”

“Hey, remember who you’re talking to,”
he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. 
“It’s going to take Roman and me a little time to get down there, though.”

“How long?”

“Maybe twenty-four hours.”

“Okay.”  She sighed.  “That’s a long time to keep ahead of these guys, but there’s not much else I can do, is there?”

“Dammit.” 
She could hear the frustration in his voice.
  “I wish I was there to help you.”

“You can’t be everywhere.  You can’t save everyone.”  She shrugged.  “Besides, I’ve lived on the streets as long as you have.  I can stay ahead of these guys.  No sweat.”

She wasn’t sure if she truly believed that, but it sounded good coming out of her mouth.

“Listen, Talia.  Maybe there’s something you can do.  Do you have any creds?
”

“I’ve saved up a few, yeah.  Why?”

“You might be able to hire yourself some protection, someone to help you make it to the Reach.”

“Like a bodyguard?”

“Any kind of mercenary who’s willing to do the job.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”  She glanced behind.  “I have to go, Knile.”

“I’ll see you there, right?”

“All right.  I’ll make it.”

“This time tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve got my number.  Get
in touch if something happens.”

“Sure.”

“Good luck, Talia.”

“Knile!” she said quickly before he could hang up.

“Yeah?”

Her voice softened.  “Thank you for coming back.  I uh…”  She stopped, unable to put words to her emotions.

“Don’t thank me yet,”
Knile said. 
“Thank me when it’s over.”

He hung up, and Talia dropped the holophone back into her pocket.  She bit her lip, her feelings creating a tumult inside of her.  On the one hand she was exhausted and overwrought, terrified of the men who were chasing her, who sought her with such tenacity.  She thought of Capper and his tool bag and the malevolence with which he’d looked at her.  It was utterly harrowing.

Then, pushing against those negative emotions were feelings of relief, of happiness.  To hear Knile tell her that he had found Roman, that the two of them
were coming back for her,
filled her heart with joy.  It was as if her prayers had been answered.  She suddenly felt that her life might once again contain warmth and that sense of togetherness that she had lost, if only she could make it through the night.

She looked back again, searching for those familiar faces in the crowd.

It was going to be a long twenty-four hours.

16

Ursie held up the tattered blue gown, pinching the shoulders between her fingers and spreading it wide as she regarded it one last time.  It had only been in her possession for a little over twenty-four hours, and during that time she’d only worn it once, but it felt like it had been with her for much longer.  After all, it had played a very significant part in her escape from Earth.  It had disguised her as she’d travelled through Lux, and then she had worn it all the way to the top of the Reach.

She’d resented it when she’d first put it on.  Later, it had proven to be unwieldy during her escape, snagging on just about everything she’d run past or tried to climb upon.  Despite that, she couldn’t help but look upon it with a certain fondness.  It had come to feel like another part of the fantasy that she was living out – part of an alternate reality, one in which she’d left her life as a street urchin far behind.

The dress was ruined now, ripped and shredded during her escape from the Reach.  It would attra
ct undue attention here in the h
abitat.  Ursie crumpled it into a ball and then stuffed it into the trash receptacle, shoving it down until it had been completely consumed.

She straightened and looked at herself in the mirror, smoothing down her hair as best she could.  The clothes she’d taken from the case – a simple white blouse and khaki shorts – were wrinkled and somewhat shabby in comparison to the clothing she had seen others wearing in the habitat, but for now they would have to do.

She grabbed her small luggage case and headed back outside the restroom to where van Asch was waiting for her.

“Everything okay?” he said.

“Yeah.  Although I feel a little underdressed.”

“We won’t be here for too long.  We’ll be able to sort that out in time.”  He waved as he began to walk away
,
and she followed obediently.  He was tall and thin and slightly bent over as he stalked along, a good head higher than most of the others around them, and even though they’d made it some distance away from the railcar, he had still not removed his aviator sunglasses.

Together with the other passengers,
they made their way up the ramp and into the habitat proper.  Around them, the other travellers were chatting animatedly amongst themselves like a bunch of kids arriving at
a town fair
, barely able to contain their excitement.  Their faces were flushed, their eyes shining.  Off on a new adventure, their troubles left far behind.

Ursie, on the other hand, was still having trouble relaxing.  Try as she might, she could not yet allow herself to enjoy the moment.  She should have been unreservedly ecstatic, like those others were, but a lifetime of hardship and disappointment had made her wary.  Perhaps for these privileged folk of Lux, life was just one amusement after the other with no speed bumps in sight.  For Ursie, moments of joy had been few and far between.  When they had come, those moments had all too often been snuffed out by the harshness of reality re-exerting itself, taking that fleeting sense of joy and smashing it into a thousand pieces.

There were still so many unanswered questions, and that worried her.

In truth, she did not know a lot about her Sponsor, van Asch, or the company he worked for.  The deal she had arranged with them had been done hastily
, leaving little time to sort out details
.  In essence she was throwing herself into their arms for the promise of escaping Earth, but she had no idea how things would pan out from here.

That may have seemed irresponsible in some ways, but while she had been living in squalor she had not cared too much about the specifics of the arrang
ement.  It was a ticket out of Hell as far as she was concerned.  There was not a single reason to stay on Earth, so why baulk at the opportunity?  She had a unique skillset, one that had gotten her through the hard times in her life in the past.  She figured that if she continued to trust in it
, she could get herself through any situation.

But now that she was here in this strange and alien place, filled with people who were very different from those with whom she had become accustomed, she wasn’t so sure.

They were nearing the top of the walkway now, and more of the habitat was coming into view.

There was a large open space down the centre of the habitat that seemed to serve as a concourse through which the inhabitants travelled from one place to the next, and also where they stopped to mingle
.  On either side were rows of cavities that, for want of a better term, looked like places of business.  There was a convenience store alongside a
place with exotic images of far-
flung habitats displayed on large terminals, a travel or real estate outlet, she assumed, along with many others, the nature of which were too obscure for Ursie to determine.  There were also several establishments that had been branded with the red ‘C’ logo of the Consortium.

Numerous signs appeared on terminals mounted on the walls: ‘Cargo Area’, ‘Departures’, ‘Skywalk’ and ‘Consortium Reception’ to name a few.  There was also one that pointed back in the direction in which they had come which was labelled ‘Earth Transit’.  Ursie’s eyes were drawn back to the travel outlet, where an attractive woman was pointing out an image of a glowing blue planet, which then transitioned to a view of a pristine habitat.

Where is that?
she wondered idly. 
Is that where van Asch is taking me?

As they reached the top of the ramp she saw four of the Crimson Shield standing with their trademark stoicism, silently watching the new arrivals making their way out into the concourse.  Unlike those down in the Reach, these were not equipped with rifles.  In fact, they did not appear to be carrying weapons at all, apart from elongated knives that were sheathed in black scabbards at their waists.  Ursie remembered the instructions from the woman in the railcar about stowing firearms, and wondered if perhaps even the Redmen were forbidden from carrying ballistic weapons here.

“Down this way,” van Asch said, pointing vaguely toward the far end of the concourse.

Looking up she could see the number ‘31’
stencilled above, along with a network of transparent squares in the roof that looked out upon the Earth above.  She co
uld dimly see lights on the far-
distant, darkened landscape that might have been the Reach, Link, or perhaps parts of the lowlands.  It was hard to believe she had been there only a matter of hours earlier.

“I don’t get it,” she said to van
Asch.  “This is Habitat Thirty-One.  What happened to Habitat One?”