“I like your facial,” I said. “How are you doing?”
“I’m getting too old for this, junior,” she groaned. Despite her bruises and swollen eyes, Ana-Zhi actually seemed like she was in decent shape.
“Looks like the Obaswoon patched you up pretty good.”
“Yeah, if you call mud and twigs and foul-smelling slime patching up. The jury’s still out.”
“Well, I’ve got something that will cheer you up.”
I filled her in about the Rhya and Narcissa’s plan to get it to our ship.
Ana-Zhi listened wide-eyed. “I don’t fucking believe it.”
“You’ll believe it when you see the Inspector for yourself. Now, let me help you out of here.”
She had to move slowly, but we managed to make our way across the plaza and return to the old temple with the containment field room.
I was surprised to see that the glowing containment field surrounding the Inspector had been moved to the stretcher, along with an array of fuel cells and the generator itself.
“Just about ready,” Narcissa said.
I could see that. The Rhya didn’t look particularly alarmed at being moved onto the stretcher. Maybe the plan wasn’t so strange after all.
“Can we get our gear back?”
“I’m a step ahead of you,” Narcissa said. She motioned to a bench which was piled with our exosuits and weapons.
“Yeah, I’m not getting back into that thing.” Ana-Zhi pointed to her suit.
“The Mayir are still out there,” I said, as I pulled my own suit on.
“You got it, wear it,” Narcissa said.
I checked my Aura and pulled up the topographics. It looked like we were about three klicks northeast of Tarkoja Plaza and the Well of Forever.
The only problem was that those three klicks could be filled with Mayir patrols.
I checked for any messages from Chiraine, but there was nothing. It had been nearly twelve hours since we left her. We were a good four hours late. Plus I had sent that distress signal when the Mayir captured us. I had no idea what she was thinking.
Narcissa summoned four more of her men and we all huddled around my Aura, plotting a course back to Tarkoja. She asked for the details of where the Vostok was located and how we planned on getting there.
Because we had parked the sled a hundred meters down the shaft, I would have to climb down myself and take the sled up to the top so we’d be able to transfer the Rhya and its containment field onto it. Once we did that, it should be relatively straightforward to just pilot the sled back down the shaft and to the Vostok.
“My men will escort us to Tarkoja,” Narcissa said. “And then we are on our own.”
I nodded. It all made sense. All we had to do was stay alive while we crossed through the ruined city of Roan Andessa in the middle of the night while evading Mayir patrols.
Easy.
We moved single-file through the night. Narcissa and two of her men armed with Mayir rifles were out front. Then me and Ana-Zhi. And then the two bearers with the stretcher and the Inspector in its containment field. Bringing up the rear were two more armed Obaswoon.
Thankfully I had been able to convince Ana-Zhi to don her exosuit, but she was too weak to even wield a rifle effectively. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up on the stretcher next to the Rhya before the night was through.
I didn’t want to risk using the light on my helmet, but Yueld’s twin moons were rising and provided just enough light to navigate through the twisting alleys and passages of Roan Andessa.
We stopped frequently, ducking into abandoned buildings to check our location or wait out a suspicious noise or just hide from a jiren drone—of which there were several patrolling the city.
Narcissa had deployed other groups of Obaswoon, moving in different directions, as a distraction, but I wasn’t sure how much that would help. It depended on what forces the Mayir had on the ground.
“Maybe we should have thought this out in a little more detail,” I said.
“No time for that,” Ana-Zhi said. “It’s just going to get worse.”
“Agreed,” Narcissa said. “This is our only chance to get out of here.”
Yeah, and go where? Even if we made it back to the Vostok, repaired her, and managed to escape Roan Andessa, where would we go? Unless the Inspector could somehow get the Fountain operational, we’d be stuck here. And four of us—five if you counted the Inspector—versus who-knew-how-many Mayir weren’t exactly great odds.
I pushed the thought from my mind and forced myself to focus on my surroundings. The air smelled like oily smoke, and the sounds of muffled explosions sounded in the distance. Maybe Narcissa’s other teams were actually pulling off the distractions we needed. I hoped so.
Eventually we made it to Tarkoja. The plaza was empty and quiet. Maybe too quiet.
“Looks like you’re up, kid,” Ana-Zhi said.
“I’ll cover you.” Narcissa readied her sniper rifle.
I made sure my Aura was networked with Ana-Zhi’s so I could signal her when the sled was ready. Then I made my way through the inky moon shadows to the edge of the Well.
Here goes nothing, I thought.
I activated my suit’s repulsors and vaulted over the edge into the dark pit. With a thud I landed on the stone platform two meters below. Our gear was right where we had left it. I strapped on my jetpack and climbing gear and then headed down into the shaft.
I might have been a little reckless climbing down, but time was of the essence. Thankfully, I only slipped once during the whole hundred-meter climb, and I managed to grab my line in time so I didn’t even need to use my jetpack.
The sled was still anchored in place, its z-field generators humming quietly. Thank Dynark. I untethered it from the pitons and then signaled Ana-Zhi.
“On my way!”
Even
