Slow Burn Dark

by A. B. Keuser

  He looked up at her forehead, then took hold of her face and tipped it down before saying “You need to sleep, Sophia’s brain.”

  She laughed, despite all of the other irritations. “Too bad you’re not my boss. It might listen to you.”

  “I like to think I am your boss, I’ve just let you continue on with the delusion that you’re in charge.”

  “Not going to fly. My brain knows better.

  “Then whatever you need to do tonight, I’ll stay with you. Don’t want any murderous rogue night gardeners to come after you.”

  “I employ agricultural scientists, thank you very much.”

  “And those trowels are dangerously sharp.”

  Shrugging, she let him fall into step beside her and continued toward the wall.

  All around her, the shiny honeycomb of the agridome structure arched upward, only the entry gate was flat, a square slotted into the hemisphere.

  He swept his hand toward the spiral stair well. “Want to take a look into the nothing with me, before I put you back on house arrest?”

  She preceded him up the steps. “How long have I known you? Twenty years?”

  “Eighteen.”

  His words were sure enough, she didn’t question whether or not he was right—though she was certain it had been longer.

  “I think it’s safe to say we should have learned, by now, that lying to each other is never going to work.”

  “Are you saying that because you’re going to try to right now?”

  She snorted and shook her head. “Just reminding myself I should never have expected to sneak out.”

  Resting her elbows on the rail, she looked out into the greendark night and said, “Want to run away to Oblivion and forget all our troubles?”

  “You’d never do it.”

  “No, but damn how I want to.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t going to lie.”

  She hadn’t meant to, but he was right. It wasn’t even a half truth.

  They needed to expand soon. Oases did not build themselves, and they had to do more. Not just for themselves.

  The current yield kept the compound fed and a steady supply of the extra—the heartier crops—to the Redlands. But it was time to take a risk.

  “We’ll pull the dome off the second sector next month.”

  Banks stiffened, and she sat up in time to see the trailing end of his disbelief and… worry.

  “Are you sure?”

  “It’s time. And if it fails,” she looked behind them toward the shadow of ragged construction beyond the tower. “We’ll have the next phase up and running in a few months after it.”

  “The expansion department sent in their numbers and estimates?”

  “We’ve been running at optimal for thirty-two months. It’s time to shake up the numbers again.”

  “I thought expansion wanted you to wait until the new dome is completed?”

  “Expansion is paid for caution.” Sophia sat on the guard platform and kicked her feet out to dangle over the edge. “I’m not.”

  Banks joined her, his mouth a flat line. “Do you remember the time you jumped off a cliff?”

  She laughed, as she nodded, the memory brought a smile to her lips, a phantom adrenaline hit—just enough to warm her. “I remember that I was tied into a harness and completely safe.”

  “I didn’t know that at the time. And I’m pretty sure I aged a decade in those thirty seconds.”

  “What does that have to do with expansion?”

  “You make sure there’s a limited risk and then you go for things without always knowing whether or not the people who care what happens understand what you’re doing and why.

  “Talk to expansion and make sure they know why you’re disregarding their suggestion.”

  “You’re still mad at me about that jump? It’s been six years.”

  “Eight. It’s not something one gets over. And it’s not the worst of your past antics.”

  There were no guards on gate duty. Any of her employees who were still out knew they’d need to find lodging elsewhere.

  No one to hear.

  She considered saying a dozen inappropriate things.

  Didn’t.

  The town was a distant glow on the horizon.

  “What do you think they’re going to do?” She asked.

  “Probably nothing until you try to press charges.”

  “Funny how no one’s asked me if I want to.”

  “Your brother hasn’t fostered much in the way of good will between our operation and the town lately… if what I’ve heard so far is true.”

  Her heart sank, because she knew it was. “What have you heard?”

  He told her, and she grit her teeth as she stared out at that indistinct glow. She’d have to pay for a lot more than replacement mining equipment to make up for his most recent sins.

  Beside her, Banks stiffened and pulled a scope from his belt.

  She watched him instead of looking for whatever had drawn his attention. In the deep dark, she doubted she’d be able to make anything out anyway.

  His scowl deepened as he scanned the distance. “We don’t have any work crews scheduled, do we?”

  He knew they didn’t, so she glanced at the distance instead of answering him. Without the scope, she could make out movement… but not much else.

  “Should I be as worried?”

  “Possibly.”

  “They’re out there, I don’t really care what they’re doing. We can send a crew out to investigate in the morning. Until then….” She yawned and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. “I think my brain is finally ready to take your advice.”

  He glanced at her and then turned his scope back on the men who were nothing more than faint movement to her now that she knew where they were.

  “Go ahead. I’m going to keep watching them for a while longer.”

  If she hadn’t been sitting, she might have fallen over from shock.

  He hadn’t even told her to get a chaperone.

  “That is the scariest thing I’ve heard all day. And it’s been a shit storm.”

  Jaw clenched, he handed over the scope.

  A dozen or so men worked around one of the rocky outcroppings near the edge of her property.

  Whatever they were doing, they did it under the cover of dark light and with ugly, flat shovels. They’d made no attempt to conceal the guns they carried and their firepower was intense.

  “Who are they?” She handed it back.

  “Rivals? Friends of the Monroe brothers? Lazarai... who knows?”

  “It’d be nice if they were wearing company coveralls. Then we’d know who was trespassing and maybe have an idea of why.”

  “They didn’t trip any sensors.” Banks scowled down at the datapad he’d pulled from his pocket and unfolded in his lap.

  “That’s because they’re on the ring we annexed last year. We haven’t finished setting up the perimeter markers yet.”

  They hadn’t needed to worry about it until they were actually using the land. And even then, she’d have been more concerned about quadrupedal trespassers.

  “Do we send someone out now?” She knew the answer. Still had to ask.

  “We can’t. The best of our guys are up scouring what’s left of the moon for answers. Until they get back... I don’t want to risk anyone else. The gut punchers they’ve got aren’t because they’re worried about something as simple as sand rats. If we approach them, we’re asking for a fight.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  He tapped in a half dozen commands, entering through them all and then set his scope on the ledge, securing its suction grips and checking its view.

  “We’ll keep an eye on them tonight… and figure out what they were doing in the morning.” He stood, eyes still on the imagery uploading to his datapad. “In the meantime, lets get your brain to bed so we can tackle whatever this is with clear heads.”

  He slipped the pad into
his pocket and led the way down the stairs, waiting for her at the bottom, watching the deserted fields as though a battalion was about to come charging out of the maize.

  Another yawn and she stumbled over a hard clod in the middle of the path. She would have hit the dirt if Banks hadn’t caught her.

  “Do you need me to carry you the rest of the way?”

  “No, thank you.” There were three terrafarm workers near the tower base entrance and she did not need that sort of speculation.

  Passing them, and then security inside, they slipped into the elevator. When the doors closed, she let herself sag back against the wall, suddenly feeling the exhaustion that should have hit hours ago.

  Banks did his usual sweep of the apartment when they stepped inside, and she followed at his requisite distance, but she was tired enough, she risked the eye roll.

  “We’re good.” He turned her toward her bed. “Now get some sleep.”

  “You going to keep me safe from the boogey man?”

  “Don’t I always?”

  She shooed him off to his room, stripped, and slipped into her bed, tired enough to ignore the swirling thoughts in her mind.

  Thirty-Eight - Flynn

  Flynn sat in Henri’s office, staring at the cup of coffee in his hands rather than at the woman scowling over the table at them.

  She’d given them the night to sort themselves out, but ten minutes after dawn, she’d rounded the three of them up and slammed her office door behind them as she demanded to know what happened. And Putty… the dumbest smart person Flynn knew, told her.

  Everything.

  “We needed to lose the weight, so I dumped the cargo. I had no idea what was in it. I definitely didn’t think it would blow the moon to pieces.” He looked offended, though no one had outright accused him of it.

  Sharing a glance with Chad, Flynn wondered if Henri knew Patrick was capable of it. They certainly did.

  “You need to ask Refuti why they have crates of explosives.”

  “If I had any proof, I might have. As of right now, all I have is you, confessing to the largest incident of property damage I have seen in my life.”

  “I should kick you all off the planet.” Her next glare was for Chad, who had, until then, managed to avoid her anger by taking up Flynn’s favorite piece of empty wall. “You should have known better. I thought you said you could supervise them, and you let this happen?”

  “I told you I could try. We both knew I couldn’t stop either of them from doing something if they really wanted it.”

  Cursing, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “You shouldn’t have gone up there in the first place.”

  “I thought Phee was in danger!” Putty snapped his mouth closed, pursing his lips as he closed his eyes and silence enveloped them.

  When he opened them again it was to stare at the ceiling. “Hindsight lets me agree with you. I shouldn’t have forced Flynn and Chadrick to follow me up there. But I didn’t know what I know now.”

  Henri shot a glance Flynn’s way and he shrugged. “Think if it had been Susan you thought was up there.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him and opened her mouth on what he was sure would be a world class scolding, but she stopped, turning to the door.

  Flynn turned as raised voices echoed outside, and pushed himself to standing, hand on the gun at his hip.

  The door flung open and Seamus barreled in, pulling free of the grip Henri’s assistant had on them.

  Three stacks clattered to the floor, washing around their legs like a hard wave.

  If Seamus noticed, Flynn couldn’t tell.

  Henri held up her hand as her assistant tried to snatch Seamus’ arm again. “It’s okay.”

  The woman gave her a look that clearly questioned her sanity, and backed away.

  For all that they’d made a racket outside, Seamus couldn’t speak for how heavily they were breathing.

  Covered in dust, their shirt torn at the sleeve and collar. They looked as though they’d run all the way from the Tahina slope mine.

  “Take your time, kid.” Flynn tried to steer them into the chair, but they shook their head in a violent refusal.

  When Seamus finally got out the words, they caught in their through and came out a jumble.

  “Mine, come. You’ve got to come. Need… you.”

  Seamus wasn’t looking at him. They grabbed Henri’s hand and dragged her toward the door. It only took a half second before Seamus wasn’t leading anymore.

  Flynn didn’t let them get away, he skidded to a stop just before the mine’s elevator and hopped into the cage with them, the kid barely waited for him to pull the gate shut, and they dropped below the planet’s surface.

  No one was working.

  Everything was lit, mine carts ran along the tracks under their own power, and there was a crush of people near the lift.

  The miners pulled Henri and Flynn out of the lifts and Drea took Henri by the arm, dragging her further into the shaft. “Thank the Great Mother you’re here. We don’t even know where to start.”

  Putty pushed past him a scowl forcing deep creases around his mouth. He joined Henri and Drea as they stared down at the feeder belt and the clear signs of tampering that—had they not been caught—would have killed a dozen or more people.

  Signs that clearly pointed to the only two men who’d worked on the machine in months.

  Putty slanted a glance toward him, and he knew he wasn’t the only one who saw the trap.

  The miners shifted around them, and Flynn heard whispers, didn’t look for the suspicion he knew floated through everyone’s minds.

  “Can you fix it?” Henri looked at Putty, Drea looked at him.

  “Of course he can,” someone in the back yelled out. “He’s the one who fucked it up in the first place.”

  Putty ignored them and pushed past Henri, dropping to his knees to look at the problem.

  When he finished a long string of words their mother would have slapped him upside the head for, Putty looked up at Henri.

  “It’s a bomb, meant to look like a faulty powerpack… and it definitely wasn’t here the other day.”

  “I think you should start clearing people out.” Flynn said, glancing over the heads of those around them. “They don’t have to go home… you know the rest.”

  As Henri moved to start what was, in truth, an evacuation, Flynn squatted down by his brother, keeping his voice low enough… “This is a distraction.”

  “It’s a good one.”

  “The Lazarai want something big… this isn’t worth it.”

  “I think the people behind us would disagree.”

  “We need to get this dealt with, because something else is in the works.”

  “What do you think I’m doing? Fucking spiders?” Putty shoved a socket into his hand. “Stop acting like I can’t see exactly what’s going on here.”

  Five minutes of careful poking later, Putty rubbed a hand over his mouth and sat back on his heels. “It’s connected to the machine’s power.”

  And the cord was now behind the machine in an unreachable location… for safety.

  “So we get someone out here who can move it. We’ve got some time.”

  “Do you think it’s safe to move this with a forklift while the device is armed? Do you think anyone is certified for that particular equipment classification?”

  “Probably not.” In another situation, Flynn might have told him where to shove his attitude. “I’m just trying to help.”

  Putty wasn’t used to having this large an audience, and Flynn could see the agitation in his shoulders.

  “Is this something where it would be better to use my sort of solution?”

  Putty stared at the final connections, mouth twitching as though the argument he was clearly having in his mind wanted to slip out of his lips and join them.

  There were still too many people in the mine and when Flynn said as much to Henri, she shrugged. “They won’t go, I can’t force them, an
d I’ve made them aware of the risks.”

  Looking back at them, Putty pushed himself to his feet and nodded toward the corner of the machine closest to the wall. “We’ll do it your way.”

  Putty kicked the tool under the housing and grabbed at one side of it. Together, they shifted it as much as they could, Flynn grit his teeth hard enough, for a moment, he thought he’d break them.

  “What’s your plan.” Henry shifted, her hard glare keeping the others back from them.

  Flynn blew out a long breath and turned away from her. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Just remember, the cord, plate, and lock are all energized,” Putty warned.

  “Sure, but is it going to kill me?”

  Hesitation, then Putty shook his head. “Not if you do it right.”

  “Good.”

  With a quick glance at their unaware audience, Flynn scooted down until he was sitting and shoved as much of his torso behind the machine as he could.

  The plug was in a horrible place—he’d have to remember to complain to the manufacturer if this didn’t kill him.

  Static crawled up his neck, and a shock bit at his finger as he reached the cording. The twist lock connection wasn’t easy to get undone with two hands…. And that was why he wasn’t going to bother.

  Groping around for the snips Putty had kicked in, Flynn found the heavily insulated handles, thanked the Great Mother for spring opening jaws, and got a good grip.

  Things were about to get better… or a whole lot worse.

  Taking what might be his last breath, he reached out and shoved the snips up, onto the cable.

  His muscles seized, closing his hand in an unbreakable grip, squeezing the handles. Jaw clenched he felt the cable’s resistance. But he couldn’t do anything more about it.

  It was up to Putty now.

  His brother gave one good reef.

  Flynn spasmed as he was wrenched away from the electric shock. Cable jerked from it’s receptacle. The whole machine went dark.

  It had taken all of fifteen seconds, but Flynn felt like a year had passed him by.

  And by the time he was able to fully focus again, his brother had already moved on.

  Putty mumbled something from inside it, then popped out to nod at him.

  “We’re good.”