Rebels (27 page)

Now we're belly to the dirt in a small clearing. This, I guess, is the
rig version of a strategy session. “Tell them the crappies are here, and they'll be coming aboard. Tell them they hurt Kane.”

Durley grins at Hep, nodding at every word; then off he goes.

“They'll find us again,” I say.

“Sure they will, and I hope they do. I got an engagement for them to attend. It'll take them a while to land. They'll be careful coming into a hostile environment like this.”

“So how do we get out of here?” I ask. “Is there a transporter?”

“Sure. A big clunky rattler. Won't get you more than a few feet, though, before it starts losing altitude. Then you go express.” He gestures down, down, down some more, then makes the sound of an explosion.

I'm questioning this alliance even more now.
Maybe I'm losing my edge
, I think.
One day in air and my brain is already fuzzy?

Fuzzy enough to trust an island girl in the first place?

“You knew where Kane was all this time,” I say to Livia.

“Of course,” she says calmly.

“Then why didn't you tell me?”

“Perhaps because you were trying to kill me.”

“What happened to Kane?” asks Hep.

“We had a disagreement, Kane and I,” she says, shooting me a look. “Reinforcement was called in, and when the PCF arrived, they wouldn't listen to my objections. A lot of them beat him until there was no hope of him fighting back. He was in no condition to fight in the first place. I attempted to stop them, but they wouldn't listen.”

“Bastards!”

“Wait,” I say to her, “so you're saying you didn't attack him?”

“Yes, as I previously explained.”

The ground shakes. It makes my teeth rattle.

“They're nearby. Probably landing,” says Hep, jumping to his feet. “C'mon. We only got one chance of this.”

◊  ◊  ◊

Now, surrounded by green bushes, there seems to be no entrance. Seems no way out, either.

I turn to Livia. No need to check for the signs of a liar. Somehow, I just know. Airgirl is telling the truth about Kane.

That memory Archive wasn't real, I suddenly realize. It was tampered with. What I saw wasn't what really happened. Things were cut out or rearranged. I'm not sure how I know this, but I do. I also know who was behind it. Cassina. But my anger has made me core-low dumb.

I wanted to believe it was all true. I wanted to be angry.

Kane being hurt by the PCF, maybe Cassina was the cause of that, too. No matter how much she cares about him, she hates me more. She was willing to hurt him if that's what it took to get me.

Livia is watching me. I feel her stare all over. She didn't hurt Kane, I know that now.
I still don't like her, but maybe I hate her a little less
.

Hep reaches deep into the green thicket. A click. A door swings inward.

“After you, ladies,” he says.

The inside of a rig makes the Rock Bottom dirt scavengers look civilized.

This must be the center, the place they make their homes. It ascends high above with levels, platforms, and hoists, then drops to a seemingly bottomless pit. The pit has a series of landings built into the sides. The landings are crammed with riggers and their things. All men, as far as I can tell. They have cots and some have tents for privacy, though there's little they seem to be ashamed of. The ones we can see openly gawk and eyeball us. One more eyeball on their faces and they'd fit in with the mutations.

Each landing is built of scrap: sheet metal, pipes, the hull of a
transporter. Metal and plexi. Windowless frames, frameless windows. Disassembled shuttle tracks connect one level to the next. Cranes angled over us, the best way to get from point to point. All welded together. Some of the riggers are welding as we pass them. Constantly repairing and maintaining this space. And it only gets higher and higher. Skylight bleeds in from the imperfect seams. It is like some ancient carcass of former earth, stubbornly persisting in the modern world.

This is Indra's waste. The leftovers you never see. Collected from abandoned construction sites. The riggers set up and take away the trash and use it to reinforce the rig.

Far above our heads, what must be the top, there's a wide platform. It could be a lookout, or just where they've stopped building, for now.

I can imagine Kane way up there, spying on the whole world from his kingdom of trash. If there's artistry in this assemblage, it's lost on me. It's uncomfortable but functional. Uninviting. But I bet Kane loved it.

Hep leads us under sagging piping. He's nimbler than us. He also hasn't gone twelve rounds with an air-breathing warrior princess. My body's starting to feel awfully pained. I follow nonetheless. Livia's in front of me. Her ridiculous dress is covered in dirt and grime and mud and blood. It looks slightly less ridiculous like that.

We reach a wobbly ridge that juts toward the center.

“Take a seat,” Hep says, motioning to a collection of shipping containers under an overhang about thirty feet up. The wing of a patroller angles down and we're cloaked in its darkness. We sit. It feels great to get to do so.

“You'll be safer here, so rest while you can. Now I must see to a few details, so I'll say good-bye for now.”

With that he takes Livia's hand, bends his dirty face, and kisses it.

She blushes. They're both enjoying this gross display far more than I am.

“And you,” he says, leaning in close to me. No, looks straight
through
me, that's how it feels. “Remember this, Lex. We live for a while, and then we die. Can't stop either when the time comes, so no use worrying about it. That's the same for everyone. Even the outside of the outsiders. People like us.”

Then he's gone.

Outsiders? Huh. Guess it's that apparent. I probably smell like one now. Maybe I'm more like a rigger than I thought. I belong to no one, just like them. And just like them, I could fall off an edge at any moment.

Livia and I sit in silence. I've nothing to say to her anymore.

“You believe me now,” she says confidently. “About Kane.”

“No.”

“Yes. You believe I didn't want him harmed. Though I had every right to want that.” She nods. “You no longer question I'm telling the truth. Of that I'm certain.”

“Don't be certain. About anything.”

I turn my back to her.

“I understand a great deal more as well,” she says. “Kane had been watching me long enough to know my life. Intimately. Spying on my island from his rig. Perhaps this is why he seemed to understand me.”

“You aren't that complicated,” I say. “Just another airgirl.”

“If that's true, then why would I be his target?”

I have no response. I've been wondering this since Cassina slapped her battery pack of lies in my back and turned me loose. Not Kane, though. She didn't do this to Kane. No, he did it for some other damn reason.

There's something more going on here. I think about that marking in Livia's eye. The one she shares with me.

A tremendous horn breaks the silence. We're out of our seats and peering over the edge of the platform. Hep is looking up at us from the lowest point in the rig's center, the one spot clear of debris.

“PCF close by,” we hear Durley say. We look upward. He's standing on a platform many levels above us. “Load of them going to hit any second now. Some landed on the edge and coming by foot. A few headed right here by craft.”

“Excellent. Ready?” yells Hep from below.

“Sure thing!” says Durley. The other riggers cheer.

“Then send her off!”

A hiss precedes the trail of smoke shooting over our heads. It whistles sharply past the lookout platform where the rig opens overhead, and flames burst across the sky and rain on the roof.

“Don't worry,” shouts Hep. “Harmless little blast. That should get their attention, though. Now they'll know exactly where to find us.” Then he looks in our direction. He can't see us, I know. Still, he seems to be staring right at me.

He winks, then disappears behind some scaffolding.

I hear the PCF patrollers faintly and I'm on high alert and ready for whatever. I know their engines by ear now.

The rig starts quivering. The engine sounds bounce around the metal and several craft do a flyby overhead. Landing on a level way above us.

That's when I see Durley jumping up and down. He's right out in the open. Whooping and flapping his arms, his bulky body shaking with fury. He's going to give himself a heart attack.

“He's insane,” I say. “They all are.”

“I suppose it depends on your definition,” Livia says, just as the blasting begins. “Though I supposed you would know.”

Durley's faster than I expected. He jumps, dodging one rapid-fire burst, and after one more jump, he disappears.

“He get hit?” asks Livia, intensely worried for his safety.

We hear an ecstatic whoop.

“What do you think?” I say. Only fools rush into battle, but I'm itching under my skin. Here we are cowering under this overhang.

I have no purpose in the shadows.

Except Hep was right. I can see everything from here while remaining undetected. With all the energy a rig consumes, heat signatures must be off the map. Livia's and my body heat won't even ping off their detectors, safe from their launchers and paralytics and all other sorts of hard-core tech.

“Patience is a virtue,” says Livia, picking up on my uneasy vibe.

“A virtue that sucks.”

I decide I hate her again. Completely.

The PCF land and spill from the crafts. Their blasters hum off safety. There are more soldiers than before. More than I can count.

PCF handbook, chapter 6: “Restraining Enemies of Indra.”

“See those camera devices attached to their helmets?” I tell Livia. “It's standard to run videofeed on every op and send it to the IHC, so don't let them see you.”

She looks at me like I'm insane. She opens her mouth to contradict me. The clever girl probably has a better option. Hep has other plans.

“Nice of you to visit!” I hear him holler. The PCF all swivel like they share one brain. They're hive-trained, not your standard troopers. Their hand cannons all aim low, in the same direction: the clearing below.

Hep's back in the same spot we saw him last. He's also got a big gap-toothed grin. “You looking for those girls?” he shouts, sounding friendly.

“Tell us where they are.” That same mechanical voice from the speakerfeed. Anonymous. Authoritative.

“I saw them. I think the taller one had a thing for me. Gave me a look, sure you guys must know the kind. Strapping PCF like you? Must have your pick of the ladies.”

The PCF officers' faces are hidden by their helmets and goggles, but they're anything but amused. “Tell us where they are.”

“Well, they were moving pretty fast. Could hardly keep up with those long legs.”

“What's he doing?” asks Livia, her voice shaking.

“Hopefully not being an idiot,” I say, harsh enough to disguise my own nerves.

“On order of the Independent High Council, you are hereby commanded to reveal all knowledge as it pertains to the whereabouts of known enemies of Indra.”

Hep's silent for a moment. He points high above us. The platform at the very top of the structure, hundreds of feet over our heads. The one I know Kane must have loved. “I saw them climb that way,” he says, whistling at the dramatic height. He cocks his head to the left. “You fellows are welcome to take the hoist, of course. Quicker that way.”

The PCF swarm toward him. Some break off to canvass the area, weaving through the warren of platforms. They move cautiously. I would, too. Too many hiding holes and blind spots to set an ambush.

Hep is all but forgotten. He watches them storm his home level by level, smashing it to bits.

He gets the attention of the lead officer—the one doing all the speaking.

“Hey!” he shouts.

I've seen that look on Hep's face. Made it myself. He's not changing course now, the stubborn fool.

Hep knows exactly what he's doing.

“They're not known enemies, okay? Just girls. You ought to let them be.” He marches up to the officer. “You hear me, crappy? Let them be. Let
us
be. You can't control everything. Even if you think you can. We won't be controlled by you.” He smiles. “This world is changing, and there's no place—”

The bark of a blaster and Hep falls where he stands.

His eyes looked directly at me just as the life went out of them. They were alive with anger, yet inside I sensed he was peaceful.

“C'mon,” Lex says, though it sounds like it's coming from very far away. She's tugging on me, but I feel as though I'm at a great distance. “I mean it, Livia. We gotta go
now
.”

I cannot be moved; my body's turned to stone.

“We have to hurry. They'll kill us, too.” Another tug, harder this time, yet just as pointless. Surely it must hurt, but I feel nothing at all.

“I'll leave without you. I swear it.” Another pull, the voice agitated. “You think being special will get you out of this?”

Perhaps it's the word
special
that brings me back, but suddenly I'm there, my senses returned. And Lex is right there next to me, yanking my arm violently.

I sense her hopelessness and desperation and, even more, something that surprises me.

She's afraid.

Deep within her—a place she would never admit to having—is a tiny shadow of fear over her heart. She can no longer fathom doing this alone. She needs me, even if she doesn't know it herself.

I'll bear this burden with her. But first, I'll let her beg, if only for a moment.