with a nod to a short female nafalli walking between the two rows of cots.
Her hand shook the foot of each person resting as she passed. She stopped at the foot of Jake and Dindamen's cots. “They've broken through into the old subway tunnel and we're about to blow up the way behind,” her squeaky high voice said through a smile.
“Thank you Nibuna, tell your father we'll be there right away,” Dindamen replied.
“Okay, see you there!” she said with unexpected enthusiasm.
Jake looked at Din as they stood and he put his gun belt and long coat on. “Let me guess, she's Alaka's daughter?”
“Yes, insuppressible spirit. I think everyone in the mountain has come to love that one.”
“I can see why, she's so cheery my teeth hurt.”
Din burst into a short chortle; “what an unusual expression, I'll have to use it sometime.”
The pair made their way out into the tunnel, one side was piled with debris from the intentional collapse, and even though there was hundreds of tons of rubble between them and the commerce building two of the younger armed refugees kept watch, listening closely for the sounds of digging equipment from the other side. They were packing up, the small folding table that had been placed there had been roped to one of their backs along with the small matching chair. From what he could see in the dim light their mood was light, they were happy to move on.
Just around the first corner in the tunnel was Alaka and all the other refugees, only sixty one of them not including the rear guard. A lot of smiles flashed up at him as he passed by and Jacob's suspicious nature told him that people had been talking while he was trying to get some rest.
The crowd parted for him as he approached and he made his way to the front with Nibuna close behind. The rest of the people who had been sleeping in the makeshift barracks dispersed into the crowd of hundreds as it quieted.
Jake closed the distance between Alaka and himself. There were others around, the ones he'd seen taking charge of different tasks here and there, and they were all working a makeshift pulley to lower people down into the tunnel below into a circle of three centimetre long disposable lights. Jake had given them a small box of them from his long coat, leaving him with his command and control unit as well as the light on his stolen sidearm and rifle, more than enough.
The small box contained fifty of the small throw away lights, they would burn for up to a thousand hours unless someone deactivated them, and once the chemicals inside were expended the thin casing left would decompose in a matter of hours, leaving nothing but water behind. Jake looked at the situation at the hole and suddenly didn't feel bad for not lending a hand. There were so many people standing around, ready to lend a hand that there was barely enough room for the rope ladder most of the more able people used to climb down. The younger and less able refugees were being lowered. He took a position behind Alaka, relieving someone helping him lower people down.
“Good morning,” Alaka said as he noticed Jake lending a hand.
“Good morning, call me paranoid but it looks like someone's been singing my praises.”
Alaka quietly chuckled, a sound that started deep in his chest and was muffled by his snout and large frame. “I'm afraid so. The West Keeper defectors, Namic and Terrance have been talking about the advisory on you, how the West Watchers placed a notice to look out and avoid you instead of putting a bounty on your head or sending squads after you. They see you as a very dangerous man. Word has spread of you returning from the dead too, and that's made quite an impression.”
“That's something I would have rather kept quiet.”
Alaka simply nodded and they worked on for several minutes before either man said anything. “So how did it feel?” he asked finally.
“How did what feel?”
“Dying.”
Jake hesitated. He wasn't offended, just quietly surprised at the question and eventually answered; “Painful.”
The much larger fellow's laughter shattered the relative silence of the cavernous main transit tunnel and it was joined immediately by the mirth of everyone who overheard.
When it subsided Jake went on. “I've died twice that I know of now. Both times I was shot more than once. You know how the movies make it look like shock sets in and most of the pain goes away?”
“I've seen it.”
“That didn't happen.”
“Ah. Do you remember anything?”
“I remember thinking how crappy the armour they give West Keepers is.”
A few of the people listening couldn't help but laugh along, Alaka pressed on after it subsided. “I mean after.”
“Ah, you mean was there a tunnel and a bright light or was Tanu the Great waiting to carry my soul into the next existence?”
“Yup.”
“Nope, I don't remember any of that, mostly because I was dead I'm thinking. Maybe because I'm man made, but if there's anyone you should be asking about this I'm not it. There's a man on my ship though, his name is Liam Grady. He spent time on Earth and is a practising Axionist. You can ask him all about it if you and this group come aboard.”
Alaka stopped and stared at Jake for a minute, who didn't notice for a few seconds.
“What?”
“I was going to ask if we could have your assistance. I overheard you and Ayan speaking before you took your rest and you said that the Triton should be coming. I didn't know if-”
“I would help everyone here? Of course, it's a big ship. If you have skills to offer I'll even give you jobs. I don't know what I can pay you, but at least you'll have a place to live away from infected machines.”
“You say it like the decision carries no weight but it's all some of the people have been able to talk about,” Alaka whispered as he started working the rope again, lowering a pair of young children who had been tied together.
“I can imagine. I'll be honest with you Alaka; at first I didn't want families aboard Triton, but with the way things are out here I couldn't refuse you. Nowhere's safe as long as the Order of Eden and their virus is spreading. We'll have to use the Clever Dream to get off the planet, and it'll be a tight squeeze but after that I'll locate the families in the habitation section of my ship if they can work with the crew somehow.”
“You are a generous man, Jacob.”
“I need skilled people, and anyone who can't help on the Triton will be put off on the safest port in range.”
“What about the children?” asked a young man holding a much younger wide eyed boy in his arms. The child was mesmerized by the sight of people being tied then slowly lowered down into the short tunnel they had dug to get into one of the older passages.
Jake had thought about that as he tried to get to sleep and didn't hesitate to answer. “The Galaxy doesn't need more orphans. I'm sure there are people aboard Triton who would take care of them, and as for children attached to parents who want to stay aboard, there are family quarters aboard that are secure from any exterior hatches. It's more like a neighbourhood than the inside of a combat carrier.”
The young man bounced the small passenger in his arms and said; “hear that? Captain Valance is going to take you on his space ship.”
The boy only glanced at Jake before looking back down the hole, watching the tense line lower people down. The work was effortless for Alaka, who snickered at the young boy watching him before looking over his shoulder at Jake for a moment. “I have been speaking with one of your old friends, Oz they call him. Unusual name.”
“It's short for his middle name, Ozark.”
“An even more unusual name,” Alaka commented with a slightly startled look before turning back to his work. “Thanks to his good navigational skills I know exactly where they are. I've directed them to an old access point that will lead them down into this tunnel much further down the line. They kept it open for servicing since they never got around to filling most of the lower tunnels.”
