#
The away team had made it to the edge of the courtyard. Overhead, the worrying drone of a second patrol ship loomed. Around them sprawled a “neighborhood” of neglected buildings. It was the first unsupervised look any of them had seen of what the fug had left behind, and it troubled them in a profound way. When a war sweeps through a place it leaves the city in ruins, broken and unlivable. Such was not the case here. Though many of the buildings were beginning to suffer from lack of maintenance, some looked perfect. If she’d not known the truth, Nita could have imagined a bustling community making its home here just days ago. A sense that all of the people had simply vanished, leaving their world behind, lingered.
Nita took in what she could see of their surroundings. They were walking along the edge of what had probably been the main road of the area. Unlike the artful architecture of her own home, the buildings were boxy and utilitarian. Some were multistory homes, but as they moved on, most were stout and sprawling structures, factories perhaps, or warehouses. They’d been built simply and efficiently from masonry, but everything had an unnaturally dark tint. The fact that everything, from the shingles to the iron fences, and even the withered trees, had the same tint suggested that the fug was to blame.
The droning of turbines grew louder, and the dim green light of a ship cast a long shadow.
“Come on, let’s get to the alley. We’re far enough from the main city that any motion at all will give us away,” Gunner said.
They huddled together in the long, tall space between two warehouses and waited for the ship to pass by. The patrol ship seemed to coast to a stop above them, its green light painting a stark line across the ground, forcing them farther back into the shadows. Finally the turbines revved, and the ship moved on.
“We gotta be close now. That ship is lingering right around this spot,” Coop said.
Lil squinted in the distance. “What’s that at the other end of the alley? Across the other courtyard there.”
Gunner, pulled a rifle from his back and raised it, peering through the scope.
“I can just barely make it out through this pea soup. It looks like a single guard, lightly armed, standing in front of a well-lit door,” he said.
“That’s got to be the place. Let’s go. Everyone know their parts?” Nita asked.
“Lil and I take out the fugger all quiet like, then you and Gunner get the door open. After that, we take everything we can carry,” Coop said.
“This is gonna be fun! We’ll signal you by shutting off the light,” Lil added.
With that, the two siblings sprinted silently down the alley. Nita and Gunner followed far behind.
“Is this the sort of thing you do often?” Nita asked.
“No, attempting to rob the people who supply the entirety of our technology is uncharted territory for us.”
“The Coopers seem awfully at ease with it.”
“Those two haven’t got the brain power to do anything but live in the moment. Working out the consequences or dangers of a given action takes too much effort. Sometimes I envy them,” Gunner said. “You’d think it would make them poor workers, but when you’ve only got mind enough to have a single train of thought, you have no choice but to throw yourself entirely into it.”
“I’m not certain if you’re trying to insult them or compliment them.”
“Merely observing. You can sort the rest out yourself.”
Free-Wrench Page 22