They reached the turn in the tunnel and found themselves facing yet another ladder. Jenna groaned. Lenata had already climbed up; craning her neck, Jenna could see a bright, open circular hatch—the source of the green light that illuminated the tunnel. Kendra didn’t wait for Jenna’s urging but started to climb right away, anxious to get out of the narrow tunnel. Jenna gritted her teeth and tried to follow. Her legs trembled each time she tried to lift a knee. Halfway up the ladder she stopped, wrapped both her arms tightly around the rungs, and rested her forehead against cold metal. But resting didn’t help; on the contrary, she felt as if any second her legs would buckle underneath her and she would crash back to the tunnel floor. Gritting her teeth, she used her arms to pull herself up another few rungs with little help from her legs. Her muscles cried out for relief. Just when it seemed she couldn’t push herself any more, Lenata’s head popped back into the opening. She made no comment but reached down and grasped Jenna’s arms, yanking upward. With Lenata’s help, Jenna finally crawled through the opening and collapsed onto the floor.
“Thank you,” she gasped, rubbing at her legs. Lenata didn’t reply. She merely folded her arms again and stared around the room. With a hiss that made Jenna jump, the hatch to the tunnel ladder closed, sealing itself with a thump. Kendra stood nearby, and she, too, stared around the room with wide eyes. They were in some kind of a strange lab about the same size as her living room at home. In front of them, the entire wall was filled with racks of glass terrariums. The green light that filled the room came from three large green light panels in the ceiling. Swiveling around, Jenna saw a long metal table that held microscopes of various sizes and a few other pieces of equipment that she couldn’t name. To her right, the wall was stacked with unlabeled boxes and crates, with a closed metal door in the middle of the stacks. To the left there were two tall metal cabinets with another doorway in between, though in this case the door was open. Kip was nowhere to be seen.
“Now what?” she asked Lenata in a low voice.
“We wait,” she said abruptly.
Jenna stifled a retort. No reason to antagonize the woman yet, but Lenata’s unfriendliness was taking its toll. She wondered again why the brusque woman was bothering to help them. What did Lenata hope to gain from this? There had to be something. Jenna stretched her legs out on the floor, flexing her toes and trying to work out the muscle stiffness.
Kendra dropped down beside her and laid her head against Jenna’s shoulder. “Mommy, I’m scared,” she whispered.
“It’ll be OK,” Jenna reassured, trying to sound more confident than she felt.
Suddenly Kip appeared at the open doorway. He had taken his goggles off, and he had put on old-fashioned glasses, something that Jenna had only seen in old photos. Had this man never had his vision corrected? The procedure was common and inexpensive—certainly less expensive than having a pair of lenses crafted. Or were they just a fashion accessory? Judging by his stained work coverall and wild hair, he wasn’t much concerned with his appearance, though.
“What’re you doin’ in the forest?” he demanded abruptly, pointing at Jenna. “This ain’t no place for outsiders, ’specially not city-bred birds and their chicks.” Jenna wondered what branded her as a city girl at this point. She was wearing stasis clothes and the boots of some criminal thug, her hair was a matted mess, and she knew she was grimy and smelly after the trek through the forest. Though since she clearly wasn’t prepared to trek through the forest, maybe that alone branded her as a city girl. She agreed wholeheartedly with Kip that she and Kendra belonged anywhere but here.
“I was trying to take them to the village,” Lenata explained. “They’d fallen into the hands of kidnappers, and I helped them escape.” Jenna noted than she neglected to explain to Kip that she was one of the kidnappers. “But when we got to the bridge over the Sauro River, it had washed out. So we headed here. I thought you might be able to help.”
Kip snorted. Whether it was because he didn’t believe Lenata’s story or because he didn’t feel like helping, Jenna had no idea. “You left your shelter and went out into a near hurricane? On foot?” He shook his head. “You might as well be a city bird yourself, Roran girl.”
“Lenata,” she reminded testily.
Kip dismissively waved his hand.
“And we weren’t on foot, we were driving,” Lenata continued defensively. “Like I said, we had to stop because the bridge was out.”
This earned an outright laugh from Kip. “You were driving. To the Roran Village.” His tone was mocking. Jenna wondered what was so odd about that. Were there no roads that led to this village? And why was Lenata trying to take them to a village of Rorans anyway? Jenna hadn’t realized there were any of them left. Just the fact that Lenata belonged to the group of people whose leader had cursed Jenna’s family gave her the chills. It seemed too much of a coincidence that a Roran would be involved in dragging them off into the forest.
“I’d planned to leave the transport closer to the village and set off on foot. Of course we weren’t going to drive all the way there.” Lenata’s explanation still didn’t satisfy Kip. It didn’t satisfy Jenna either. Lenata had said she was saving their lives. How was hiking through the jungle to a supposedly extinct group of murderous fanatics saving their lives? Why hadn’t she just driven them to the nearest settlement?
Of course, the Roran village might be the nearest settlement. Zoria wasn’t exactly filled with bustling towns.
“What do you have to say ’bout all this, city bird?” asked Kip, returning his attention to Jenna.
Lenata turned and shot a quelling look at Jenna. She could read that just fine. Lenata wanted her to play along, but Jenna still wasn’t sure who to trust. Could she trust either Lenata or Kip?
“I just want to get home safely with my daughter,” she answered simply, putting her arm around Kendra and pulling her close.
“And where is home?” he asked, his tone suspicious. What was he suspicious of her for? Did she look like a threat? For a moment she wondered if she should tell him the truth.
“Tarentino Bay,” she said at last. There really didn’t seem any reason to lie about it, wary as she was.
“Never heard of it,” Kip said dismissively.
“It’s in Mandel,” Lenata clarified. Kip just shrugged.
“What d’ya want from me?” he asked gruffly. “I don’t have flipcoms. Wouldn’t work out here anyway. No comms in or out by terminal either.”
“Do you have a transport?” Jenna asked eagerly.
Lenata frowned. “We just need a place to stay for a few days,” she interrupted before Kip could answer. “Nothing else. We won’t bother you longer than that, I promise.”
Jenna glared at Lenata. What, was Lenata still planning on hiking through the jungle? Was she that determined to take them to that Roran village? Lenata pursed her lips and stared right back at Jenna, daring her to disagree.
Kip’s eyes darted from Lenata to Jenna and back to Lenata, clearly wondering who was in charge. Jenna had just about decided to ignore Lenata from here on out when a voice broke through the tension.
“Excuse me, mister?”
Everyone swiveled in surprise at Kendra’s high voice. Kip stared at Kendra like he’d never seen a child before.
“Do you have a bathroom?” she asked timidly.
“Y-yes,” he stuttered awkwardly. “Right through here.” He led her through the far door, and Jenna followed closely behind. She wasn’t letting Kendra out of her sight. Kip’s bathroom turned out to be a tiny water closet that barely had room enough for one person, so Jenna saw Kendra inside and then shut the door, barring the doorway with her body. Kip left her there without a word and went back into the first room, probably to wring some more details out of Lenata. She could hear their voices through the open doorway; to her surprise they didn’t discuss Jenna or Kendra at all. Instead, Lenata seemed to
be asking questions about the Rorans. Then she asked Kip about his bugs. From what Jenna could gather from the conversation, Kip was some kind of scientist who studied insects. What kind of scientist lived in the middle of nowhere with no connections to anyone else? How could he communicate with other researchers?
“Are you OK in there?” Jenna called through the door. Usually Kendra didn’t take so long.
“Yes, Mommy,” came the muffled reply. “It’s just taking a while.”
“OK, no hurry. I’m right outside if you need me,” Jenna said. Of course being in medical stasis had played havoc with their bodies. It might be a long wait. Jenna looked around curiously at what must be Kip’s kitchen. It was arranged galley-style: there was a tiny programmable oven, a sink, a small icebox, and a water purifier not unlike the one they had back in Tarentino Bay sitting on a narrow counter space along the one wall. There was a single shelf above the sink that held one mismatched set of dishes and a rack of sleeves of what she could only assume were traveler’s rations, the dehydrated pouches that were commonly used in space. The door to the bathroom was set in the opposite wall. To Jenna’s side there was a tiny folding table with a stool, hardly large enough to hold a single place setting. The entire room was maybe three meters long and scarcely two meters wide. There were no windows, but at the far end of the kitchen there was another closed door, presumably leading to another room in the house. Jenna’s mind pondered the architecture while she waited for Kendra. What was most likely to be on the other side of the kitchen? A door to the outside? Unlikely, considering that they had had to crawl up a ladder and through a trapdoor to get inside. A door to laundry or storage? A pantry would make the most sense. If Kip lived out here all alone, he had to have a significant storage of supplies. And what was the wall behind her? An outside wall? Or was there another living space on the other side? It was hard to know. She hadn’t gotten a good enough look at the outside profile of the building.
Finally, Kendra opened the door.
“Wait right here by the door, OK?” Jenna told her firmly. “I’ll be out in just a second.” She slipped into the tiny bathroom and tried to relieve herself as quickly as possible. It made her nervous to leave Kendra out of sight for any time at all. She barely trusted Lenata, and she trusted Kip even less. When she finished and opened the door, Kendra was listening wide-eyed as raised voices floated through the open doorway.
“You mean I’m going to have a squad of criminals beating down my doors?” Kip said angrily.
“No, I just mean that we’ll be missed, and we need to lie low. I really need to get them to the village,” Lenata protested.
“Why the village?” Kip demanded. “They don’t like outsiders. Not sure they’ll even want you back, Roran girl, not dressed like that and carrying tech.”
“Because the kidnappers won’t think to look there. They don’t know about the village.”
“Right,” Kip sniffed. “I’m assuming you came from the Ravine—no, don’t bother to deny it, where else would you have come from out here—but you think the kidnappers have never heard rumors of the hidden village out here? Everyone in the Ravine knows about the Rorans, girl! Don’t play stupid.”
Jenna put a finger to her lips, cautioning Kendra, and crept a little closer to the opening. She didn’t want to interrupt in case they could learn something useful, but it was clear that Kip didn’t trust Lenata any more than Jenna did.
“Just one night. Give us one night, and then we’ll be on our way,” Lenata pleaded. “You are right about the Ravine. That’s why you can’t take us back there.”
The Ravine, mused Jenna thoughtfully. She’d never heard of it, but then, she’d never paid much attention to Zoria, not even when her mother had organized all those search parties for Andie. Was the Ravine the name of a settlement? A building? A smuggler’s compound, maybe? Or did it refer to an actual ravine? That seemed unlikely. At least, Jenna didn’t remember anything from their wild ride away from the kidnappers that made it seem like they were leaving a ravine. Though there had been a couple of steep inclines.
“It’s still the middle of the night,” Kip said impatiently. “If you stay all the way until morning, won’t those thugs you won’t name get here before you can leave?”
“I don’t think so. They have no idea we’re here.”
Kip was silent for a moment. “I don’t want visitors,” he growled. “Of any kind. Much less a passel of women on the run from a bunch of low-life, bloodsucking mercenaries.”
“We’ll leave tomorrow, Kip, I promise,” Lenata said. She sounded far less like a tough-talking bully and more like a pleading little girl.
Kip heaved a sigh. “One night,” he relented.
“Thank you,” Lenata said huskily.
Kip popped his head through the doorway, startling Jenna. Kendra squeaked.
“You two hungry?” he asked gruffly. Jenna looked at Kendra. She nodded, her wide eyes on Kip.
“Yes, please,” Jenna told him. “If you have anything to share we would be grateful.”
“I don’t have much. Mostly travel rations. In about a week I make a supply trip to the Ravine, so I’m out of anything fresh.” He moved to the shelf and started pulling down packets. Lenata appeared in the doorway and slipped into the bathroom. Jenna wondered if Lenata had stayed here before when Kip had helped her leave the Roran village. Clearly there was a story behind that. But if Lenata had run away from some terrible marriage, why was she taking them back there?
“Name’s Cornelius, but you can call me Kip,” their reluctant host said while he opened a packet and dumped it into a tray. He retrieved a measuring cup from the shelf and filled it with water, pouring it over the unidentifiable mass.
“I’m Jenna, and this is my daughter Kendra,” Jenna introduced. She glanced at the bathroom door, wondering how much time she had and how much she could trust this stranger. Well, there was little to lose at this point. She plunged right in. “It’s very kind of you to take us in, Kip, but we really don’t want to go to the Roran village. All I want to do is get home. If we could just get a message to my husband, I’m sure he’d come get us,” she suggested.
Kip shrugged. “If I have comms that need to go out, I save them as mail and upload them when I make my supply run. You’d have to wait a week, and according to the Roran girl, your thugs are Raviners. They’d figure out where you were the minute I used one of their devices to send your message. No way am I going to make a stand against some goon squad to protect you.” His tone was matter-of-fact. He slid the tray into his oven and pushed a button, then pulled out another tray from the cupboard below.
“But if they come looking for us, won’t they attack you even if we’re not here?” suggested Jenna. “Wouldn’t it be better to leave with us and go somewhere safe for a while? Is there an Armada outpost or another settlement nearby?”
“The Armada!” Kip spat, banging the empty tray on the counter. Jenna flinched, and Kendra dug her fingers into her arm. He turned to face her. “I’d rather head out into the jungle naked to wrestle with wild boarquats than come within a thousand kilometers of the Armada. I’d lose everything!” He glared angrily at her. Probably not a good idea to mention that her father was an Armada admiral, then.
Lenata opened the bathroom door. “The Armada?” she said suspiciously. “What’s this about the Armada?” She also glared at Jenna.
Jenna decided it was time to retreat. “I just wondered if there wasn’t somewhere Kip could take us where I could contact my family,” she said mildly.
“Yeah,” Lenata drawled. “He could take you right back to the place you were being held captive. It’s the only place with comm access within a couple thousand kilometers. But I doubt they’d let you contact your family. They’d put you both right on a transport to deliver you to the creepiest deep-pocketed pervert on the planet.”
The silence that followed was tense. Jenn
a bit her lip. Was Lenata telling her the truth? Kip didn’t contradict her, though Jenna had noticed that he hadn’t said anything about other settlements specifically. Still, she’d kept them safe so far, and over her dead body was Jenna going to risk Kendra ending up in the clutches of any pervert.
The oven beeped, and Kip withdrew the tray before mixing up another batch of some mystery goop and popping it into the oven as well.
“You’re all welcome to shower after you eat, clean yourself up some,” Kip said at last, all traces of his sudden anger gone. “I have some clothes you can borrow for the night, though you can’t take them with you. I don’t have much in the way of extras around here. Won’t matter anyway; as soon as you head out the door you’ll be mucked up again in minutes.” He looked over at Jenna, his eyes traveling down her filthy tank and shorts and bare legs and too-large boots. His brow furrowed, but he didn’t comment on her odd attire. “I’ve got a t-shirt the kid can wear too.” Jenna thanked him, wondering how she would manage a shower while still keeping an eye on Kendra. Perhaps they both could squeeze in the tiny bathroom. A shower was almost as tempting as hot food. Though it would be a luxury to even wash her face at this point.
Kip dished them out portions of some mystery squashy stuff. It didn’t look appetizing, but it was steaming hot, and when Jenna tried it, her first mouthful wasn’t so bad. Well, it tasted fine, anyway. The texture left a lot to be desired, and if Jenna hadn’t been so starving from days (weeks?) in a medical capsule followed by a trek from the jungle, she would have found it hard to swallow. But her portion disappeared pretty quickly, and, happily, Kendra also ate hers without complaining. If Erik had been there, they would have been treated to a tantrum over it for sure. Her gut tightened. Where were Erik and Berry? Were they safe? Her heart ached with desperation. She had to get out of here. Her children needed her.
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