by Magus Tor
Aurelia welcomed the chance to rest. She thought of Nicholas, of what would happen to him now. She thought of Jonathon, of how worried he must be. She thought of Elza and Tara, the only people who knew where she was, although of course they didn't know what had happened to her. As far as she could tell, her situation was pretty impossible unless she could find a way to contact the dome or escape. But her legs were still shackled when they were in camp. And besides, after a steady fourteen hours or so of walking, she didn't think that she'd get too far if she tried to run away.
She was still sitting, propped up against her pack, when figures appeared again on the horizon. This time they seemed to be running, and behind them trailed an unidentifiable clump of movement. The others stood and picked up their packs, ready to move out as soon as their comrades reached them. It was only when the first running figure got close enough to be heard that they dropped everything.
The figure was panting and sweating under his suit, but eventually he made himself understood. “Ambush.”
Garda stepped up to the front. “How many injured?” he said.
The panting figure took a few more breaths. “The ambush party are all down. Out of us, just a couple. But one bad.”
The unidentifiable clump of movement was now close enough that Aurelia could make out two figures supporting someone between them. The limp man in the centre was big and tall, and she realised that she knew who it was.
“Kardem's hurt bad,” said the runner. “Real bad.”
“Put the tents up,” ordered Garda. “We stay here.”
The men began to quickly but methodically set up camp, and Aurelia pushed her pack into a pile of others before rushing to catch up with Garda, who was walking quickly towards the invalid party.
“Wait!” she cried after him.
He didn't stop, but she caught up.
“I can help,” she gasped.
With a curt nod, he allowed her to join him, and twenty or so metres from camp they caught up with the three figures. They relieved the outer two, carrying Kardem between them.
“In here,” Garda said when they reached the first of the tents.
They laid the man down, his body heavy with unconsciousness. Garda reached out to lift his head.
“Stop!”
He didn't remove his hands but turned to look at her. Aurelia saw that she didn't have a lot of time to persuade him, so she took a deep breath, hit the button on her breathing suit, yanked the hood up, and showed him the red flashes on her uniform that marked her as med staff.
Thankfully he didn't argue, just nodded, and Aurelia closed her suit, switching it on again. Garda stood back and let her do her job. She examined Kardem as best she could with his breathing suit still on, which wasn't much, but at least it was something. She didn't see the hole until she was almost through. Lifting his arm, she saw a tiny rip in the underarm of his suit. Gods.
“Get me a new breathing suit,” she said to Garda, sharply. “Fast.”
Again, he didn't question her. He left and returned to the tent within a minute.
“Now help me get him in it,” Aurelia ordered. “We've got to be as fast as possible.”
Working in consort, they managed to strip Kardem of his broken suit and get him inside the new one in less than two minutes. Aurelia judged that he wouldn't suffer brain damage in that short time, but Gods knew how long he'd been on diminished oxygen whilst his suit was ripped.
“What happened to him?” she asked as soon as she was sure that Kardem's breathing suit was operational.
“Stunned, probably,” said Garda.
“But stunners don't work out here!”
He gave a small laugh. “Yours didn't. But they do when they've been modified.”
The hiss of Kardem's breathing suit was irregular, the breaths small and uneven. Aurelia knew there wasn't much hope. The combination of being without full oxygen levels and having his system electrocuted was almost certain to kill the man. She peered through his hood, manipulating the fabric until she could open his eyes and look at them. The first pupil was small and round, but the second, as she had feared, was large and blown. Kardem was irretrievably damaged, and she knew it was simply a matter of time before he died.
“Garda,” she addressed him by name for the first time, “he's not going to make it.”
“Heal him.” His voice was dark.
“I can't.”
Garda stood up. “Without Kardem, we don't have the contacts to sell what we need to sell. That means that you don't have a choice. You will keep him alive until we make it to the settlement.” With that, he left the tent.
He was asking the impossible of her, she knew. But still, she tried to make the man as comfortable as possible. Even in her trauma room, he wouldn't have made it, but at least he'd have been injected and had a calm and peaceful death. His last, whispering breaths came a half hour before Garda re-entered the tent.
Aurelia shook her head when Garda looked at her, and for a moment she thought that he might accept what had happened. But then she felt the cold steel of his fingers digging into her bruised and blistered shoulder.
“Wait!” She pulled her head back as far from him as she could get, afraid that he was going to hit her. “Garda, wait. He was without oxygen for too long; his brain was damaged; there was nothing that I could do.”
Garda grabbed her other shoulder and pulled her up to face him. “He was without oxygen because you took off his breathing suit,” he hissed.
“Because his was ripped! You saw it!” She tried to wriggle out of his grasp but only succeeded in being dragged closer to him.
“And maybe you taking him out of the suit was enough to make the difference.”
Garda's voice was still low and dark, but his fist, when it came, was full of anger. The first blow caught her on the side of the temple and made her see stars. Only after three blows did she finally fall to the floor, but then it was only to be kicked. She didn't have time to fight back, didn't have time even to shout. Pain blossomed through her, red, glowing, and burning hot. The last thing that she managed to do was turn her head slightly so that the foot coming towards her face glanced off her jaw.
She must have woken at points; the memories were fragmented. She could remember pain, lots of pain. She could remember being hit again at least once. She saw flashes of light but remembered no words. She didn't think that she'd been moved, but she couldn't be sure. The first thing that she really had a memory of was the dried, crusted blood around her mouth that softened and tasted metallic when she licked her lips. Then she faded back into blackness.
The next time, she found out how uncomfortable it was to breathe. Trying to catch a deeper breath, she found a stab of sharpness in her chest and so went back to small, rapid breaths that hurt less. She wondered whether she could move but couldn't try it. She just couldn't bring herself to hurt more. And then blackness again.
Maybe the third or fourth time she woke up, she found that she was staring at a wall. Something struck her as odd, but she couldn't quite identify it. She closed her eyes and then opened them again. Yes. The wall was moving. Weird. No, the wall was opening. Even more weird. She didn't think that walls opened, but she wasn't certain. She closed her eyes again.
The next time she opened them, there was something coming through the wall. Interesting. She forced her eyes to stay open, wanting to know what this thing was. It pushed through the opening, wriggling, tearing the wall more as it did so. Not until it was through and standing straight did she realise that it was a person.
The person came closer, bending its head down to meet hers, and hastily Aurelia closed her eyes. She didn't know if being unconscious stopped the beatings, but it was worth a try. When she chanced a look, the face looming towards hers was gone. Instead, she felt movement around her body. Something moved her, grinding bones together somewhere inside her, and then she was gone again, back into the blackness.
There was something not right. Something in the way she mo
ved, bobbing, like a small boat in a bathtub. It didn't hurt exactly, but it felt odd. The movement was smooth but constant, and rather peaceful when she thought about it. Not that she had too much chance to do that. She couldn't even open her eyes before she disappeared back down the dark hole.
The next time she awoke, she was still; the movement had stopped. A hand reached out and touched her shoulder. Almost immediately she felt the pressure as air was sucked out of her suit, the fabric clinging to her body. She couldn't struggle against it, so she continued taking small breaths, just waiting for the air to run out. But it didn't. There was a ripping noise and then a cool, soft caressing of air on her face. Her hood was off. She breathed, and the air was cold but not suffocating.
Where the hell was she? Idiot, she cursed at herself; she hadn't opened her eyes. Now she did. There was a dome over her, but close, so a small dome. She couldn't move, so she moved her eyes instead. There. There was another figure. It was standing up, a hand already pressing the power button on its suit, switching it off. Then both hands reached up to pull at the hood. The hood came down, and it took far longer than it should have for Aurelia to process the image before her.
Then he smiled.
It was Nicholas.
Chapter Eight
“How did you find me?” Although she sounded fine in her head, Aurelia heard that her voice was only a croak.
Nicholas smiled and came to kneel next to her. “Shh,” he said. “You need food and rest. I'll tell you everything later.”
She wanted to protest, but she couldn't find the strength. Her eyes closed against her will, and the next thing she knew she awoke to find Nicholas trying to prop her up. When he lifted her shoulders, she could feel a sharp pain in her chest.
“Broken ribs,” she whispered.
Nicholas's face clouded with worry. “But I can't get food or water into you while you're lying flat on your back,” he explained. “Do you think you can bear it if I try to get you at least half seated?”
She nodded and bit her lip as he picked her up once more and shifted something behind her. The pain was immense, like someone was stabbing her, and her head swam with sickness. But when he released her she found that she was relatively comfortable, and the sharp pain faded into a dull throbbing.
“Here,” he said, offering her a spoon of something.
She gratefully accepted some warm soup, but after a couple of spoonfuls found that she was unable to eat more.
“It's fine; we're going to have to take this slow,” Nicholas said.
“I feel like I've been pulled through a washing machine,” Aurelia told him. But she felt infinitely better than before and could even keep her eyes open, a good sign. “How did you find me?”
Nicholas sat cross-legged next to her. “You have Bryn to thank for that,” he said.
Bryn? Aurelia thought about the gruff man in black who had shown her out of the dome. He didn't seem particularly predisposed to helping anyone, let alone her. “How come?”
“When he found out that you hadn't re-entered the dome after a couple of days, he started to get worried about you. He managed to get a message through to me. Simple.”
“He didn't seem... well, he didn't seem like he liked me much,” Aurelia said.
Nicholas grinned. “He doesn't like anyone much,” he told her. “But he and I, well, we've known each other a long time.”
“He wasn't your classmate; he's too old.”
“He was my teacher,” Nicholas admitted, and the tone of his voice made it clear that this was not a matter for discussion.
“And then what? What happened after you got his message?”
“It wasn't too hard to track you down. There aren't many women out here, especially not women on their own. I found the group of traders that you'd spoken to; Bryn put me onto them. Then when I couldn't find you elsewhere, I figured you'd been taken. Others told me about the brigands down by the mine. I've been watching you for a day or so, trying to figure out how to get you out of there without getting us both killed.”
Aurelia smiled a little at this. “All that Clone training sure comes in handy sometimes.”
“And what about you?” Nicholas asked.
Quickly she filled him in on how she had got Out, and what had happened since.
“Okay,” he nodded. “But I still don't understand why you're out here. I told you not to come.”
“I know, but I think you're Out here under false pretences. Nicholas, why did you leave? We were about to get you to safety. I know you weren't thrilled about going to Earth, but it would have been better than this, wouldn't it?”
Nicholas's shoulders slumped, and Aurelia saw that he looked weary. He'd probably been up for a couple of days, watching her and trying to get her out of the brigand camp. A faint flush of grey under his eyes stood out against the pale skin of his face.
“Part of the reason I didn't want you to come out here was that I didn't want to have this conversation with you,” he said, after a few moments of silence. “I know how you feel about Jonathon, and that makes it more difficult.”
“What? Tell me, Nicholas. I can't help you unless you talk to me.” But an icicle of fear had gone through her heart when he had mentioned Jonathon. Had he lied to her? Hurt Nicholas in some way?
The Clone rubbed his face with his hands. “Fine. I don't trust him. I don't think that he was about to rescue me; I think he was about to kill me, and I also think that you knew that too.”
If she'd have been able to move, Aurelia might very well have stood up and walked out on him right then. How could he? Did he really think that she would betray him? She tried to remind herself that he'd only known her for a couple of weeks, but still, she thought that he knew her better than that. Since she couldn't go anywhere, and even the thought of yelling made her chest hurt, she asked as patiently as she could: “And what makes you think that?”
“I heard, Aurelia. I heard the conversation that you two were having when you came to tell me about the escape plan. That damn corridor outside was like an echo chamber; I could hear everything.”
She remembered then the sound of footsteps in that corridor, the sound of a hospitality Worker bringing them tea, and knew that he was right. He would have heard any conversation that went on outside of his door. What she didn't know was what exactly he had heard. “Tell me,” she ordered.
“Jonathon said to you that I was a dangerous man, that it was best for all of you if you got rid of me now.” Nicholas spoke quietly.
Gods. He had said that; she remembered it distinctly. But all he'd meant was that it was better for Nicholas to go to Earth than stay in Lunar, nothing more sinister than that.
“Then later,” Nicholas continued, “you asked me what you should do if something happened to me, who you should contact. It seemed obvious then that you were...”
“Stop!” she shouted, though it burned her chest with effort. “Enough. Nicholas, you are a grade-A idiot, and there's nothing more that I'd like to do right now than slap you.”
His eyes wide with shock, he stared at her. “You mean...”
“I mean we had no underhanded plan, no intention of hurting you in any way. We were willing to risk ourselves to save you and get you out.”
“But why...” He seemed incapable of finishing a sentence.
“Because we're in this together, because I believe in your cause, because you saved Jonathon's life. And now look what you've done. What have you achieved here?”
He hung his head and looked shamefaced. “Aurelia, I don't know what to say. I really did think that, well, you know, and I wanted to spare you that. It seemed easier to get myself out so that you didn't have to live knowing that you'd been my downfall.”
She reached out with a shaking arm and clasped his hand, his skin smooth and warm. “Nicholas, you've got to learn to trust. I'm your friend. You can trust me. I would never try to deliberately hurt you, and I will do anything I can to avoid anyone else hurting you. Do you understand th
at?”
When he looked at her, his eyes were glistening. “I guess. Trust is... hard. Especially in Lunar.”
She understood that. Despite having been in the city for only a little time, she already knew that trusting was not something Lunar citizens did, or even aspired to. And she also understood that Nicholas had been moved by what she’d said.
“I didn't know Clones could cry,” she teased him.
He rolled his eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you that my biology is the same as yours,” he said, but at least he'd given her a small grin.
She grinned back. “And you're going to have to trust Jonathon as well,” she told him.
A cloud went over his face then, but he nodded. “I'll try.”
“Good. Now, we need a plan of action. You got one?”
“Er, a plan for...?”
“A plan for getting both of us back inside the dome as soon as possible. I've got to tell you, Nicholas, I'm not the biggest fan of Out.”
Again she got a grin. “Oh, I don't know, it's got its good points,” he said.
“Like what?”
“Like, Out is full of people like me,” he said. “There are other Clones out here, ones that have escaped, ones that have had their numbers erased. That's how I got all this.” He gestured to the portable dome and supplies stacked up around the walls.
“And are we safe here?”
“For the time being. Brigands don't usually attack domes; it's not worth their while. They attack trading parties, easy targets. Like you.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” Aurelia said. “Okay, so right now we're safe. That's good because I don't think that I can move far right now.”
“Not without me carrying you,” said Nicholas. “You're not looking good, Aurelia.”
“Again, thanks for reminding me. I think the first part of our plan needs to be doing a stock take of injuries.”
“Alright. What do you need me to do?”