by Janet Miller
“Let’s go,” Roan said, and quietly they all left. They sped down the winding overgrown paths of Delta Residence, Sonja keeping one hand on the stunner in her pocket. She wasn’t going to let any would-be thieves interfere with this rescue now.
Just as they were about to get to the small path leading to the maintenance building and the elevator that would take them down to the boats, a man came down the path, and recognized Sulla’s husband.
“Tron!” The man eyed the bags and the child Tron was carrying. “Where are you going?”
“Hi Harry.” Tron looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Well, my wife and daughter…”
Allan and Suna were far in front of them as if part of a different group. They slowed but didn’t come back, Allan keeping a firm grasp on Suna’s arm. The man, Harry, stared suspiciously at Tron when it seemed he didn’t have an answer.
Sonja stepped forward. “Sulla and Alice are coming to visit me for a few days.” She took Roan’s arm. “My husband and I just settled into a new place and I asked her help in fixing it up.”
“Oh. That’s nice.” He turned back to Tron. “Are you going to be back to the bar tonight?”
Tron shook his head. “No, don’t think so. I’ll need to get them settled. Already took my name off the list.”
“Okay. I’ll take your spot. Have fun tonight.”
Harry continued on, and when he was out of earshot, Tron turned to stare at Sonja. “You’re pretty fast with the explanations, aren’t you?”
Sonja shrugged. “When I need to be.”
He shook his head with amusement. “You and the Dealer. It’s a match, for sure.”
Tron moved on to catch up with Suna and Allan, carrying Alice and with Sulla on his arm, leaving Sonja to stare after them. She looked up at Roan, who looked as taken aback as she felt.
She and Roan were a match, and it was so obvious that everyone knew it. How could they break apart? They began moving down the path again, but their steps were slower. Sonja kept her hand on Roan’s arm, and it was as much for comfort as the camouflage of being a couple.
Once again they reached the maintenance building and Allan tricked open the locks to let them inside. This time, though, he opened his bag and pulled out a small device. He held it up to Suna’s arm. “I’m going to deactivate all of our tracking tags so that a scanner won’t be able to locate us when we’re down there.”
Allan held the neutralizer up to everyone’s arm and finally had Suna do his. He turned to Roan. “Your turn, buddy.”
Roan looked reluctant then held his arm out. “I’ll want you to show me how to reactivate it later.”
Allan nodded. “I’ll leave the device with you. You never know when you’ll want to be ‘invisible’ to the authorities.”
Sonja saw the loss in Roan’s eyes and the answering sorrow in Allan’s, but neither man said anything as Allan finished deactivating Roan’s tracker and put the device away in his bag.
Roan was showing the strain of losing his friend, she realized. He could never ask Allan to stay, but he wasn’t happy that his friend was leaving him alone.
Would that have any effect on his decision? Not likely.
The elevator had been made to hold an entire crew of ten men for the descent into the mine, so all of them fit comfortably. Sonja noticed that none of the others were any happier with sounds the unmaintained elevator made than she was. Each jerk and shriek of abused metal made the women cling tighter to their men. When they arrived at the bottom, everyone seemed to give a sigh of relief.
Neither of her sisters was any happier with the bobbing of the dock than she had been, and they eyed the small boats waiting for them with palpable dread.
“It isn’t that bad,” she told them. “In fact, it was actually really pretty. Wait until you see the crystals in the roof of the tunnel.”
The women relaxed, and Roan flashed her a look that was both proud and grateful. Suna actually seemed eager to get into the larger boat when Allan helped her inside. Sulla was more cautious, as she wrapped firm arms around her daughter when Tron handed her over.
Roan pulled Sonja to the second boat as Tron and Allan climbed into the biggest boat. “They’ll go first and we’ll follow. If there is any trouble, Allan knows how to navigate to the spaceport while you and I will keep any followers from catching up. With only two people, this boat can outrun most of the other vessels down here.”
“The guards have boats?”
“Yes. We didn’t build the docks. Those were made a long time ago, and all we do is take advantage of them. After I found the first boat and repaired it, I built the second one myself and smuggled the motors for them in.” He took a look around. “I rarely see anyone else down here, but every once in a while I’ll hear another engine echoing in the caverns. That’s why we use quiet electric motors. If they can’t hear us, they can’t find us.”
“Particularly now that your tracker is deactivated.”
“True enough. I’m glad Allan thought of that. This way we are ghosts in the waterways.”
Roan helped her into the boat and took his position behind her. In front of them Tron followed Allan’s instructions and untied their boat, and slowly the bigger craft edged away from the dock. Sonja did the same for their boat so Roan could go after them.
Soon they were again cruising down one of the long tunnels. The boat in front of them disappeared into the darkness, and then a small light flared. Sonja smiled as she heard the whispered exclamations of delight when her sisters saw the crystals. She’d been right to mention that. It made the trip less frightening when there was something so beautiful to look at.
Sonja leaned back to whisper to Roan. “How long will it take to get to the spaceport?”
“At this speed nearly an hour. The boats are much slower than the shuttles.”
An hour was a long time for someone not used to being in the dark or on water. Sonja hoped her sisters would remain calm for the entire trip. “How long have you been smuggling down here?”
“I started in the middle of my fifth year here. There was always a black market for goods that the company shops wouldn’t or couldn’t carry. Women’s clothes in particular, since initially there were so few women here and officially many of the wives simply didn’t exist. So the company couldn’t bring in the kind of merchandise in the kinds of quantities I could.”
“I notice there are a number of stores now for women’s clothes.”
“But as you noticed, they don’t carry the same quality, and they can’t get the same amount without someone on Gaia noticing.”
She leaned back on the bench. “I still think you should see if they’d be interested in upgrading their offerings. Perhaps someone could make a deal with some of the small shops to handle upscale items. Also, I bet there would be a real interest in materials like cloth and embroidery thread. The few Gaian women I’ve know have liked to make things themselves.”
She heard amusement in Roan’s voice. “Are you suggesting I go legitimate, Sonja?”
Was that what she was suggesting? No, she wanted Roan to leave with her, not have another excuse to stay on Ares Five. Her suggestion had come from her thinking about possibilities, not what she wanted to happen.
“I guess it’s a bad idea. After all, you’d have to explain where you got your merchandise in the first place and that would mean admitting to smuggling. You’d probably just get into trouble.”
He laughed. “You’d be surprised who I sell to, Sonja. Many people in authority in the prison turn a blind eye to my smuggling since I can bring in the luxury goods they want. Even so, I like the idea of setting something more official up. The idea of branching out into raw materials is a great one. There isn’t all that much the women here can do while their husbands are in the mines.”
“Won’t the Gaian authorities eventually figure out what’s been going on here? Smuggling in stolen women and selling them to the inmates?”
“The women aren’t sold!”
Sh
e shrugged. “They can call it a ‘marriage fee’ but the cost is too high to be even remotely legitimate. The women are being sold into marriage.”
“Who would tell the authorities on Gaia? The men gaining wives wouldn’t say anything.”
“There are people who’ve heard about the slave trade providing wives for Gaian miners who were not prisoners here.”
Roan grew very still. “People you talked to before you came here? Someone from Gaia?” His voice was deadly quiet. At her nod he was still for a long time. “Then things are going to change here very soon.”
“Another reason for you to leave, Roan. You don’t want to get caught up in that kind of mess.”
Again he was silent for a while. “You really want me to leave with you. Why? Have you accepted that I’m your husband even though you don’t believe in the way we choose our spouses?”
She didn’t have an answer for him so she lapsed into silence. What could she say? No, she didn’t believe that two people could simply meet in a dark room and sight-unseen fall in love based on their chemistry.
But she couldn’t deny that Roan meant more to her than any man she’d ever spent time with, including her first love, Bearn. She couldn’t argue that Suna hadn’t been happily married or that her sister Sulla didn’t love her husband Tron.
She could see in Allan’s eyes how he felt about Suna even though he’d met her just this afternoon. He was willing to give up everything he had on Ares Five to go with her.
Sonja sighed and grew silent. If only her own husband was as willing to do the same for her.
Chapter Twenty-Four
For a long time they cruised without talking. Sonja felt the weight of the darkness around them and the oppressiveness of being so far underground. She was used to open sky or the metal and plastisteel walls of spaceships, not the solidity of rock around her. She wanted to reach out to Roan and break the silence but didn’t know how. Sonja wasn’t used to feeling so helpless.
But then Roan twisted in his seat to listen to the darkness behind them. He stopped the motor and leaned forward to her to whisper, “Turn off the lamp.”
She switched it off, and as she did she saw Roan touch something behind his ear and whisper, “silent and dark”. Immediately the lamp in the boat ahead blinked out and the motor silenced.
The resulting dark and quiet were almost overwhelming. Sonja stifled her panic, forcing herself to listen to what sounds she could hear. There was the soft lap of the water against the sides of the tunnel and the occasional splash as a drop of liquid fell from the ceiling into the underground river.
But then in the distance she heard another sound, something that was not natural. Roan shifted in his seat behind her and she knew he heard it too. It was the sound of an engine, much louder than the quiet electric motors Roan and Allan were using, and it was growing louder with every moment.
Roan leaned forward. “Turn the lamp back on.”
She did and blinked in the sudden brightness. Roan touched his earpiece again. “From behind us. Move to the next left and go silent. We’ll lead them off.”
He listened for a second. “No, stay dark until they’re past you. Our light should be enough for now, and they’ll think there is only one boat.”
The boat in front started up again, and Roan followed. One lamp wasn’t much light, but after they’d gone another fifty meters it was enough illumination to show where the main tunnel split into two branches. The boat ahead took the left branch and moved deep into the darkness. By the time Roan and Sonja passed the spot, the other boat had disappeared from view. Roan drove their boat down the right branch, and after another fifty meters again silenced the motor.
The sound of the other engine was easy to hear now, and it was growing louder. From behind them came a glimmer of light, much brighter than the small lamps they were using.
“A spotlight,” Roan said quietly. He then touched his earpiece. “Are they past you?” He smiled grimly. “Okay. See you at the ship.”
He leaned over to Sonja. “Better hold on. This could get bumpy.”
Roan gunned their motor, and with a roar the small boat sprang down the tunnel, water rising in a plume behind them. Caught off guard, Sonja grabbed the edge next to her as the boat’s speed increased.
Apparently this boat could go a lot faster than she’d given it credit for. The reason they’d been moving so slowly was to stay as silent as possible, but now Roan seemed to want the noise to better lead off their pursuers. They tore down the tunnel, the front of the boat parting the black water and the walls streaming by. The boat bounced as their speed increased, and Sonja realized why Roan had warned her to hold on tight.
He leaned forward. “I’m afraid this boat isn’t meant to go this fast,” he said, confirming her suspicions. Sonja was holding on too hard to answer him. They reached another branching and Roan took the side tunnel, making the turn at a speed that turned the boat on a steep angle. Sonja let out a shriek but kept her grip.
From behind them came the steady drone of a more powerful engine. Sonja risked a glance behind and saw a flash of light from the boat following them. It looked larger and more streamlined and was definitely catching up to them.
Every time she looked back it seemed closer and the engine louder. Roan made another turn down a tunnel, then another one, until Sonja wasn’t sure even he knew where he was anymore.
But while he was tense there wasn’t any grimness in his face. If anything he looked like he was enjoying being chased.
Roan really needed a better way of getting excitement.
With each tight turn, the boat went closer to being on its side. Sonja clung tighter to the side, but it was getting harder for her to keep her grip. Finally Roan went around one corner a little too fast and her hand slipped, leaving her leaning too far into the turn.
The change in weight made the boat tip farther, and she lost her balance. For a moment she teetered on the edge, then with a sharp cry Sonja went over the side.
Just as she was falling she heard Roan shout something. But then she was in the water, and the cold hit her chest, making her gasp in a mouthful of water. From behind her she heard the boat zip by.
She sank, for a moment too shocked to do anything. But then she struggled against the water, fighting to get to the surface. Her head reached the air just in time to see another boat approaching, moving fast. Coughing and spluttering, she took a deep breath, then let herself sink again. The forward wave from the boat hit her and she was pushed towards the side of the tunnel. The other boat tore past her, after Roan.
Sonja pushed against the water with her arms and legs and managed to get her head to the surface again. She hadn’t exaggerated her tendency to sink, but motivation was a great teacher. No way was she going to die of drowning. Remembering how Roan used his arms and legs to move through the water, she tried to copy him. Swimming looked easy when Roan did it, but she was awkward trying to duplicate his fluid movements.
After the pursuing boat turned a corner, there wasn’t any light. Relying on her memory of where the side of the tunnel was, she managed to splash her way in the direction of the rock wall. It seemed to take several long minutes, but when her hand hit something hard she clutched the rough surface gratefully. At least here she would be able to rest without sinking.
She found some outcroppings big enough to cling to and managed to pull herself partially out of the water and onto what felt like a narrow ledge. She sat there in the dark, cold, wet and shocked.
Shocked because Roan hadn’t stopped for her. The sounds of both boats faded off in the distance. He’d abandoned her and left her alone in the dark, surrounded by water.
Her chest heaved, and Sonja felt the sting of tears in her eyes. For the first time in all the long years since she’d began searching for her sisters, Sonja lowered her head into her hands and cried.
Desperately, Roan had grabbed for Sonja when he saw her start to go over the side, and cursed when he missed. She hit the surface and
sank beneath the water. He killed the motor, but the boat’s momentum kept it moving.
What to do? If he stopped, they’d be captured. He could go until he lost the other boat then double back to find her, but that would take so long. Too long to leave her alone in the water.
And then he remembered that Sonja couldn’t swim and nearly panicked. He had to get to her before she drowned.
Roan started the motor back up and used a cord to fix the handle so it would head in a straight line. Then he grabbed a small backpack that was at his feet and slipped overboard into the water.
His boat continued down the tunnel at a good pace. He felt a small pang of regret because it had been the first boat he’d found and rebuilt. While this was one of the longer straight sections of tunnel in the complex, the boat would only run until it hit a wall or was overtaken by their pursuers. Either way he’d probably never see it again.
But losing a boat was such a small thing next to losing his wife. He had to find her.
He barely had time to swim to the side of the tunnel when he heard the boat chasing them approach. It was coming fast, the light on the front brighter than he remembered. Roan ducked beneath the water’s surface as it sped towards him, avoiding being seen. Once he heard it pass he began swimming fast, back to the place where Sonja had fallen overboard.
Roan tried to contain his panic as he swam along the wall of the tunnel. It was significant that the other boat hadn’t stopped. They must not have seen Sonja splashing in the water, and that either meant she’d been able to stay hidden or she was underwater.
Sonja might not be able to swim, but he knew she wouldn’t just give up when she hit the water. She would have fought to stay afloat. Even so, the other boat might have run over her if they hadn’t seen her. She might have been hit in the head and be floating unconscious.
He’d find her. He had to. The water here wasn’t that deep and the tunnel only twenty meters across. She could have struggled to the side and be clinging to the rocks.