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I fell straight down three meters and stuck in soft green.
A moment later the light dimmed and I thought I saw the shadowy outline of coins through a tint of pink as something settled on the top of my helmet and shoulders, jamming me deeper. The confines of the pipe became fixed as pink ooze filled the spaces around my upper body.
Things got even darker when someone replaced the drain cover.
I didn't know if Meeroush had turned off my comm, but I was receiving enough audio to hear the rattle of something opening and the Frairy protest.
"Damn it! We had a code worked out! Can't you people—"
"Where is Vivi?"
Saura?
"Slow down, short stuff," Duff snapped. "Jeez, you two look like crap. What the hell happ—"
The comm picked up a choking sound.
"Tell us where she is." It was Shoff's dulcet growl.
"Gaugh!" the Frairy gasped. "You don't have to be so violent. We didn't know who tripped the prox sensors, so we dropped her down the drain."
Again Saura sounded in my audio. "Where is?"
"She's fine. The Tabi want her kept out of Endar claws, I do what I have to do."
Really?
"Tell where—"
"Hey," I called from inside the pipe.
Something nudged the bottom of my boot and cold panic rolled through me. My arms, extended above my head, were gripped by pink Brktar ectoplasm. I tried to plant my elbows into the sides of the pipe and worm my body upward.
I was pinned tight.
Duff, Meeroush, and I were going to have a long talk when Saura pulled me out of here...
I felt my body rotate a fraction to the right.
Holy Mother Universe! The exclamation froze in my throat as my body moved back to the left a few millimeters past my original position—as if something was trying to break me loose from the lining of the pipe. For the first time, I noticed the pressure of the Tabisee armor was tighter than its normal, torturous clamp on my legs. I slipped downward a fraction.
"Hey," I shouted again.
There was a scrape of metal above me and the grate lifted away. The weight on my upper half disappeared as the Brkt on top lifted to glide back up into the room. I tilted my head back enough to see Saura's relieved expression.
"Vivi! Meeroush will pull out now." Did she sound slightly panicked?
I dropped a little lower in the pipe.
"Tell the Brkt to stop pulling me down!" I yelped.
Meeroush snarled a curse. The opening darkened as he leaned in, reaching down.
I dropped again.
Shoff growled something.
"What?" I heard Duff exclaim. "How should I know? If it wants her, you can't stop it."
I wondered if anyone else heard the click-click of the Frairy's warning system above the ruckus they were making.
"Damn it!" the Frairy exclaimed. "The Endar followed you in. Now we're schamoofed!"
I missed any responses as something tugged at my foot and images of ravenous pink ecto-blobs shot through my brain.
"...three of you? How am I supposed to explain it without ending up in a cell inside the Grip?"
The armor on my legs clamped tighter and I shot downward.
***
THE THIN LIGHT OF THE drain disappeared as I bumped around a ninety-degree curve in the pipe and clattered sideways. My brain quickly stopped its silent scream and shifted to swearing as my helmet banged along the curves. It was worse than my struggle in the Ritto warehouse with Shoff and seemed to go on forever. Then I had the sudden sensation of shooting out into the air. The pressure gripping my legs snapped me like the loose end of a cable and I sailed sideways, into another horizontal tube. I yelped in terror as my headgear slammed the edge of the opening and that was the last I remembered.
The sudden stop probably popped me back to conscious thought. I lay there, reality shifting between the cold, dim corridors of a slaver ship and the plascrete walls of a drainage tunnel.
Reality finally settled on a drainage tunnel.
Water and green stuff oozed from every joint in the Tabi armor when I rolled onto my side. My whole body throbbed in one big network of hurt.
I was lying at the bottom of a plascrete tunnel several meters in height and width, that stretched off into the shadowy distance in both directions. Scattered, shallow puddles of water dotted the floor, their smooth surfaces reflecting the dim light radiating from the walls. The Brkt sat at the base of one wall in a pool of liquid. It appeared smaller than I remembered.
Seeing the hole in the ceiling was well over three meters above me, I guessed it must have broken the shock of my fall. I wondered if it felt as bruised and ill-used as I did.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked as I climbed to my feet.
It sat in the puddle and did not move.
This place had to be a part of the city's drainage system. Not good. I had helped clean out some of the things that took up residence in the sewers on one Human station. It had involved a minor strategic battle and powerful, low energy weapons. The Brkt and I would not be the only things in this place.
The bigger concern was, did the Endar monitor activity down here.
They were on alert for a skinny, awkward Tabisee security trooper inside the city, but I doubted they would search at street level in a city the size of the one above me. They would rely on informants.
I needed to lose the armor, but I had to find a place to hide it, then get a message back to its treacherous owners so they could retrieve it. Even if I did not count them as allies, I had a bigger diplomatic picture to consider.
First, I had to find a way out of this tunnel, figure out a new disguise, and start searching the streets.
I felt a sting of regret over the loss of my awaysuit—I could have used it right now—but I figured Mathet really had spun the best story possible to escape the Endar in the warehouse.
I looked at the Brkt. "Which way out?"
It sat still as stone. No light rippled in its depths.
Had I killed it when I landed on it? That made me feel bad. If it was injured I had no idea how to help it. My only recourse would be to carry it until I found some of its kind.
The tunnel sloped slightly downward on my left. In a place like this, down usually led to maintenance and mechanical levels while up led to... more physical effort.
Down it was.
I turned back to the Brkt.
Something dropped out of the pipe, hit me square in the back, and knocked me flat.