Setting her aircar down onto the damp ground in an opening between the outbuildings, Talina spooled the fans down. Capella’s first yellow rays were sending spears of light across the treetops; they illuminated the great, white mushroom shape of the Mundo Base dome. Gave it a golden hue. The sheds and shops among which she’d landed still remained in the tall forest’s retreating shadow.
As the aircar went silent, its whine was replaced by the rising and falling of the chime as invertebrates greeted the morning. A flock of scarlet fliers descended from the forest on the south to land among the corn, beans, and squash plants in the field. Spots of brilliant red, they commenced their morning hunt for invertebrates.
Taking a last check, Talina noted that she was down to a thirty percent charge in the power pack.
Rocket, first to react, leaped bodily over the gunwale, chirring, whistling, and squeaking happily. His mouth open, he pumped air through his body, testing scent, exhaling through the vents at the root of his tail. Colors of white, pink, and orange flowed in splotched patterns of joy across his hide.
“How are you doing, Buttercup?” Talbot asked as he checked Kylee’s blankets.
“We home?”
“Just landed,” Dya told her daughter with a smile. “Bet they’re not even up in the dome yet.”
Talina retrieved her pack and rifle, asking, “How do want to do this? You want to go wake them up, and I can fly Kylee to the roof?”
Dya said, “Don’t know that the roof can take the weight. First floor in the tower for now. At least get her under cover for the time being. Make breakfast. Once we’re all fed and talk to Rebecca and Su, we’ll figure out what the next step is.”
Talbot swiveled off the side rail, landing on the firm soil with both feet. “My God, it’s good to be home.”
Talina noted the look of relief in the man’s face. “So, you’re married to all three?”
“That a problem for you, officer?”
“No. Just proves you’re a better person than I am. I never thought I was smart enough to manage even a single marriage. Let alone three at once.”
“Different here,” he said, as if it explained it all.
Yeah, welcome to Donovan.
She helped Dya maneuver the stretcher handles to Talbot, who winced at the pain in his wounded arm as Talina crawled out and took the stretcher handles from him.
The walk to the tower base lasted no more than seconds, and Talina took in the changes since the last time she’d been here. Lots of mothballed equipment. Some of it tarped. Some of it cannibalized. But then, that was Donovan, too.
Nevertheless the place had a neat look. Cared for. Signs of industry could be seen in the dried vegetables hanging from vines inside open-sided sheds. The shops had been all tightly closed against the night. She trod on beaten earth, marked as it was by feet and tires.
What really sank in was that Mundo was huge. All those acres in cultivation behind the tree line. More food growing than the people here could possibly eat. Most of it growing wild, from the looks of it.
“Hard to believe it’s just been you, Rebecca, and Su,” she told Dya. “I don’t know how you did it.”
“Hard work. But we’re losing. Not enough of us.”
At the dome, Talbot cycled the lock, opening the door wide. Rocket was the first through, turning expectant eyes on Kylee as she was carried in and placed on a table.
Talina looked around, took in the stacked crates and boxes, the few remaining light panels that flickered just enough to leave the room gloomy. She walked over to the bent lift cage, stooped, and felt the frayed cable where it had spilled across the floor.
“I think we have cable similar to this from the Turalon cargo. Tyrell Lawson and a couple of his hands could have this whole thing back up and running in a couple of days.”
“That’d be a godsend,” Mark told her before bending down and kissing Kylee’s head. He added, “Welcome home, precious.”
“Good to be here.” Kylee waved a hand. “Go on. They’re going to want to know that you’re here. Rocket and I, we’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, not bad for a pedophile, huh?” Talbot gave the little girl a wink. She giggled in return.
“Pedophile?” Talina asked as she followed Talbot and Dya up the stairs.
Talbot said over his shoulder, “It was a boogeyman yarn they told the kids about the kinds of men who lived in Solar System.”
“Good. Otherwise I’d be forced to shoot you in the back.”
“Naw,” Dya called back. “We’d have already shot him ourselves. Thought of it on occasion. Not because of pedophilia, but just because he’s a pain in the butt sometimes. Turns out he had a saving grace. He was too good at chores and sex to waste.”
Talina lifted an eyebrow; Dya’s entire demeanor had changed, sharpened, as if since landing she’d once again grown comfortable in her own skin.
Damn, what a climb. By the time she’d reached the top, Talina could feel her wind.
At the landing, Dya opened the door to a foyer, calling, “Hello! Rebecca? Su? You here?”
“Dya?” came the call. “When’d you get back?”
“Just now.”
A scrambling could be heard, feet pounding, the excited cries of children.
Talina followed Dya and Talbot into the main room, seeing that the furniture looked a little more shabby; the great curving window that allowed views of the rugged country to the north had yellowed.
A lot of potted plants were growing in the room. Gave the place a tropical sort of feel.
Rebecca, older, harder and thinner, came first, a flimsy and worn robe doing little to cover her lean body. The tall woman’s hair was now cut short. Lines had carved themselves in the corners of her dark brown eyes and full jaw. A toughness lay in the set of her lips, smiling though they were.
Su Wang Ho followed, now a mature woman with long, gleaming black hair. A look of sheer joy illuminated her features; white teeth shone behind her petite lips as she threw her arms around Dya.
And then came the flock of children: a boy teetering on the start of his teen years; a host of smaller ones of all sizes, not that Talina was any judge of ages.
They all clustered around, hugging Talbot and Dya, clinging to their legs, calling questions. After hugging his women, Talbot was on his knees, laughing like a lunatic, gathering children into his good arm. The man looked positively radiant.
“How’s Kylee?” Rebecca demanded, brooking no more interruption.
“Alive. Healing.” Dya disengaged from a little three-year-old that had to be hers, and stood. “She’s downstairs with Rocket. Dr. Turnienko did the surgery. If she heals without incident, she’ll walk again. Live a normal life.”
“Thank God,” Su cried, throwing her arms around Dya and hugging her again, a look of relief flooding her face.
At which moment Rebecca first logged Talina’s presence. Shock. The faint frown followed by recognition. Rebecca stiffened, asking, “What the hell is she doing here?”
If hatred could thrive in words, Rebecca’s were acid with loathing.
Everything stopped. All eyes turned.
“Hello, Rebecca. Su. Sorry to intrude.”
Su’s eyes flashed recognition, alarm, and then brittle hatred: the woman wheeled, running for the rear.
“You better have a damn good reason for being here.” Rebecca’s chin was quivering with rage.
“She does,” Dya interjected herself between Rebecca and Tal. “Things got a lot more complicated than we thought. We’ve done the best we can. Hear us out before—”
Su emerged from the rear, some sort of tube thing in her hands. The look in her eyes had gone wild as she slid to a stop on bare feet beside Rebecca. The tube rose in her hands, the woman’s hair flying around her head.
In the last instant before it could come level with Talina’s chest, Dya slapped the thing up. Something shot from the end, the sound of rebounding springs loud in the room.
Nothing wrong with Tal’s instincts. She’d barely ducked out of the way as the black dart streaked by her ear.
“Why’d you interfere?” Su screamed in Dya’s face. “She murdered Paolo! Shot Pak down in the street!” A look of absolute disbelief crossed Su’s face. “And you brought her here? You, of all people?”
Talbot stepped forward, calming. “Stop it! All of you! Damn it, we’re in trouble. Real trouble. And right now, Perez is the only person keeping us from disaster. I mean it, stand down.”
He stared intently into Su’s hot eyes, easing the tube from her hands, saying, “But for her, neither Dya nor I might have ever made it back. Rocket would have been killed. It didn’t work like we’d hoped it would. Too much went wrong up there.”
Rebecca, almost trembling with rage, knotted her fists. “We should have tried to fix Kylee ourselves. I knew it was a mistake.”
“We couldn’t have,” Dya told her, walking up and hugging Rebecca. “I was there for the surgery. Watched what Turnienko had to do to save Kylee’s leg and hip. That was the price.”
Su was still glaring, seething venom in Talina’s direction. “I never thought our home would be profaned by that bitch, but here she stands. Makes me want to vomit.”
Talina kept her features stiff, feeling her heart thumping dismally in her chest. Hard to see that much hatred concentrated behind another human being’s eyes. To know that it was all centered on her.
The children were watching with wide, solemn eyes, having backed away to safety behind the adults. Given their new terror, Talina wondered if they were silently telling themselves, she’s a pedophile!
The quetzal in Talina’s gut chattered in amusement.
Talina raised her hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m not here to cause any trouble. All I need is a charge, and I am out of here.”
“A charge?” Rebecca asked.
“I’ve got thirty percent in the power pack. That gets me halfway back to Port Authority. Just tell me where to plug in.”
Rebecca glanced sidelong at Dya and Talbot. “We’ll have to pull voltaics from the condensers, use some of the solar collectors from the refrigeration in the ground lab.”
Talbot sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He glanced at Talina. “It’ll take a couple of days.”
“What?” Talina snapped.
“This isn’t Port Authority,” Rebecca shot back. “Recharging aircars isn’t an everyday occurrence. We had far better uses for the charging equipment. Think basic utilities: Light. Heat. Power.”
Talina nodded. “I understand. But you need to know. Time’s critical. If I’m not back, don’t check in, people are going to come looking for me. Won’t take them long to look up Mundo Base’s coordinates and plot a straight line here. I better go down and call in.”
“Use the radio here,” Mark told her. “Something short. Quick. That Aguila can’t put a directional locator on.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully, and with a little luck, she still doesn’t know you’re missing. Won’t for another couple of hours.”
“The new Supervisor?” Rebecca asked. “We’re afoul of her? How’d that happen?”
“She was in the same hospital. It was one of her people who shot Mark.” Dya made a face. “Would have shot Rocket. Might have shot me if Perez hadn’t stopped her.”
“Shot?” Su cried. “That’s what happened to your arm?” She rushed forward, hatred dissolving into concern as she took Mark’s hand and inspected the bandage on his upper arm. “How bad is it?”
“It’ll heal,” Talbot told her with a smile. “And the only way they could get me was from behind.”
Rebecca put her hands up. “Wait! Stop! We all need to hear this from the beginning.”
“And there’s Kylee to think about,” Su added hotly. “We need to get her up the stairs.”
“Dya?” Talina asked, “Do you want me to fly her up, or do you think the two of us can manage that stretcher?”
“Carry her,” Dya responded. “Save as much charge as you can in your aircar’s power pack. We want you out of here. Might have to rest a couple of times on the way, but more than that, I guess we have to.”
Talina met Rebecca’s and then Su’s hard gazes. “While I’m down there, I’ll call in. Tell Two Spots I’m taking a couple of days. That people aren’t to worry.”
“That’s brazen of you,” Su almost spit. “If it were up to me, you’d be dead and buried days before they thought to come looking for you.”
Talina smiled grimly. “Yeah, well, given general sentiment, you’re far from alone in feeling that way.”
“Go with her,” Rebecca told Dya. “Monitor her call. Keep an eye on her.”
Talina turned, led the way back to the foyer.
“My apologies,” Dya said as they stepped out on the dark landing. The steel mesh wiggled under their feet. “You helped us. Kylee, Rocket, Mark, and me. But some things just can’t be forgiven.”
“I know. Maybe better than you and Su. It’s not like I could forgive the person who murdered Cap. Can’t forgive Spiro for what she did to Felicity. Some things are just too far gone to end any way but in blood.”
The stairs rattled under their feet as they descended in the dark gloom.
“I know you acted under Clemenceau’s orders.”
“That’s not an excuse, Dya. I just have to live with the consequences.” Talina hesitated. “That tube thing? Su was trying to kill me, wasn’t she?”
“If that dart had hit you . . . Suffice it to say it wouldn’t have been a pleasant way to die.”
“Any way to hurry the charge on my aircar? Might be safer for all parties concerned if I slept somewhere out in the forest.”
“Mark and I will talk to Su and Rebecca. You can bunk in my room tonight along with me and Kylee. I imagine Su and Rebecca are going to want their time with Mark after being away.”
“I’m beginning to see what you’re so desperate to protect. I’ll do what I can for you.”
“Why? What’s it to you?”
“Maybe I’m a sucker for dying dreams.”
“How are Rebecca and Su and Damien?” Kylee called from her stretcher as Tal descended the last of the stairs.
“Fine, fine. Looking forward to seeing you, buttercup,” Dya called. “Talina and I are going to haul you up to the top as soon as we attend to the aircar.”
Talina shot the little girl a wink. Rocket was prowling around anxiously and bolted from the door as they opened it. Like a shot he was onto the beast Dya had called a “roo” before the herbivore could react.
Through the quetzal in her belly, she felt his thrill at the chase and kill, could almost feel the creature’s blood swell with the taste of fresh meat and blood.
Su came within a whisker of killing me up there.
She’d call Two Spot, all right. “Dya. As soon as I make that call, we need to start charging my power pack.”
“No sense in tempting fate, huh?”
“What do you think?”