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The Endar hustled me along a passage similar to the one we'd just left, except both walls were finished material now. My heart leaped painfully when they pulled me into a notch in the wall. If it was a Consortium teleportation station, I was done for.
I waited for it to scream an alert as it keyed on my Human DNA.
Instead, it turned out to be a high-speed lift that enclosed us in a field of thin blue light and whisked us upward.
"Cannot access minder aerie from here," the second guard said after a moment of silence.
"All Sat Quar are moving to positions," the one clutching my arm said. "Must move by strategic fastest route. We accessed lowest, so must go up central shaft to Minder base." It felt eerie hearing their conversation carried out nearly a half-meter above my head.
"We will report late to posts. There is no honor in late."
"This is priority. It will elevate clan," came the reply.
While the two fretted over what appeared to be a delay in getting to their assigned positions, I fought my way through stunned confusion. It was obvious these guards had mistaken me for someone else. Was it possible the Endar had Human clones inside the Grip? Could they have actually cloned me from the genetic material in my lost arm?
Would the Xix Nation let them do that? Maybe they weren't given a choice. The hard noose of the Endar Primacy would be tightening on their neck in the same way it was closing on the Tabi Empire.
It was impossible for the Endar to have cloned me; reason pulled me back from the dark edge of horror. It took longer than a few days to get a clone moving and functionally responding at the level these two seemed to expect. Then again, maybe that was why they didn't seem to expect much of a reply to their questions.
The thought made me lightheaded. I moved a foot to brace myself and got tangled on my trailing hem. The Endar on my right caught my shoulder and lightly supported me. If he had known who I was, the claws that held my flesh would have sunken deep into me. Instead, he maintained my balance as our upward movement came to a stop.
The hood hid the fear that locked my expression, but it also blocked my view of the area around me. All I could see was a narrow bit of the floor in front of my feet. The sight, when we stepped off the lift, was enough to take the last bit of my shallow breath away.
It was beautiful.
Of course, everything was black. It also had smoky, semi-transparent tracks shot through, with veins of gold and dense black swirls that twined through its depths. It looked as if we walked over a solid surface at least two meters deep. An occasional glimmer of light glided through its depths.
I wondered if we were in the lower level of the Saalyu, but the color of the décor was all wrong for that piercing blue exterior, and, considering the animated way one of the guards was now talking on his comm unit, I was pretty sure I knew where we were.
Inside the Grip.
These Endar seemed to think I was a prize to elevate their clan. The sense of urgency I got from them also indicated they thought something had gone very wrong somewhere else. For that matter, so did I. But, if I held my silence and listened, I could pick up some useful information.
Sharing it, once they discovered my true nature, would be a different matter.
Every step became an effort to move without tripping over my robes as my escort whisked me along. We came to a two-meter square of shining black slab. There was no sound except the creak of leather as they positioned us all on it. It took a long moment for me to realize we had begun to rise upward again in the darkness.
It was difficult to judge how far or fast we moved without a sense of motion. I locked my eyes forward on a spot of light across from us that I thought was stationary. It swirled down and away, and I realized the plate we stood on was spiraling up and around the sides of an immense, dark tube.
Lights in the darkness over deceptive distances are not unsettling for a spacer. We see them every day. I fastened my eyes on the next light above us with no idea whether it was a massive, illuminated opening or a tiny fixture. It swirled by and fell away fast, forcing me to find and lock on another one. I did it over thirty times before one fell into view and did not drop downward. Our upward motion slowed and the light grew larger as we moved sideways toward it. By the time we stopped, the square of illumination was over ten meters high and wide, and my knees felt rubbery with the realization of how high and fast we had risen.
We stepped through a curtain of light into a broad, black-walled but brightly-lit hallway.
"Humans have arrived at Pashmikt." My chips identified the name of the space station above Rohm. "They are passing through security," one of the Endar said.
"Vermin," the other responded. "This event will not be for their success."
I kept my face buried in the shadows of my hood to hide my scowl.
"They are doomed to failure." The first one made a rattling sound I guessed was a laugh. "They will go back to their dismal hole in the universe in humiliation to await their demise."
Rejection hadn't brought our demise on our first or second bid for membership, why should they think it would work this time? Assholes. They were gloating over Human demise while carefully whisking one through the halls of their security stronghold.
Clearly, they did not think I was Human. As obvious as that seemed, it hit me so hard I almost stopped walking. If they didn't think I was Human and I wasn't a clone, what did they think I was?
Memory of the kid hiding behind me as we stood in the shadows of the public ring at Idwal, flashed in my mind. She knew who those lanky figures outside that airlock were. She feared them. Now she was running into the Zone toward them. Why? I tried to disconnect from what I knew about the situation and think from her point of view. What had changed? Things had gone wrong and she ended up stranded and alone on this world. If the Endar were the one thing she was familiar with, perhaps they had begun to look like a refuge.
The memory of how hard I fought to get back on the doomed pirate ship before it fled the Zephyr Isles flashed in my mind. I hadn't cared about anything except getting back to Anthy.
If it was the only life she knew...
But why had it taken so long for her to make her move?
What would a kid on an unfamiliar world do?
Hell, I was on an unfamiliar world right now. What had I done?
Unsuccessfully tried to lay low until I got a sense of the place.
Even though Endar controlled the port, other distractions, like the immensity of the place, might have overwhelmed a small child, making her miss their presence there. And Duff said they didn't have an actual, official presence in the city, which would make it difficult for her to find them there. She had lurked in the outer city, staying hidden from everyone for months. Then she suddenly ran in a straight line for the Zones, toward the Endar.
Maybe she was simply tired of being on her own, tired of running and hiding. I had not sought out the Tabisee, but a part of me felt relief when they snagged me. They were a familiar thing in an unfamiliar world.
But she had not made contact with the Endar at the entrance to the Zones. She had chosen to sneak inside. What if she was looking for someone? What if something snagged her attention—confirmed a presence she wanted to connect with strongly enough to brave the Endar and their security.
Now I had discovered the Endar were immensely concerned, but not surprised, to see a Humanoid wandering the passages below their security structure, all while they gloated over Human's demise. Numb with confusion, chilled and sweating with apprehension, I trudged along in the company of two Endar who, I was sure, would gut me if they discovered what I truly was.
I had to escape, to find Saura, Duff, and the others. Tell them what I had learned. But at the moment, the chances for escape weren't looking good.
Endar Left was not taking whatever communication he was receiving very well. He hissed and spat, demanding "someone arrive to take it off their hands." That "their assignment was not to escort soft ones."
I think most beings can feel a tug of empathy for another species dealing with bureaucracy; it seems like we all pull from the same employment pool there. Meanwhile Endar Right renewed his grip on my upper arm. The longer the one-sided conversation continued, the tighter his grasp became, until, even with my shipskins hardening to disperse the pressure, it was all I could do to bite back a protest.
The kid's unprotected arm would have fared much worse.
Our pace had slowed during the exchange. Endar Left ended his communication and spat a few untranslatable words in obvious fury. "We will take to threading floor."
That led to a brisk, silent walk.
Finally, we stopped before a light-rimmed triangle in the wall. One of the Endar passed a hand over a panel beside the door and we passed into a narrower corridor.
"Ordered to positions," Endar Left said. "Late arrival will dishonor clan."
"Soon. Explain situation again. We must return the Minder to Threading Central M'Faiya. Honor to clan is assured." Despite the confidence in their reward, the two picked up the pace until I was jogging to keep up. I had to lift the robes clear of my feet to avoid tripping over them, making an occasional flash of cobalt footwear inevitable. Luckily, my escort was preoccupied and we did not meet anyone coming toward us as we rushed along.
They pulled me to a stop before another sheet of light doorway. It was the first opening we had come across in the smooth span of wall. Endar Right's fingers stroked a meter-long vertical plate beside the entrance. I heard a rasp of Arpi from some remote source. My captor made one sharp noise back. It did not sound friendly or respectful.
Then we stepped through into a corridor full of light and mild floral scent. Both my escorts made a noise that sounded of disgust, but something inside of me unknotted. This did not feel like exclusively Endar space.
The corridor widened ahead of us. The wall on the left continued on, but the one on the right ended. My escort picked up their pace even faster.
As we swept past the right corner, a huge space opened before us and my mind blanked with shock.