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I woke to pain. Whether I moved or stayed still, I hurt. Some were dull aches, like my legs and arms. Other were sharp like my hands, neck and face. Burning like the bastard sun over everything was the fire in my broken rib. Anything but the shallowest breath hurt like hell. I curled into a ball, wrapping myself around my hurt as I tried to find a way to accept it, control it, but all that happened was that tears ran through the blood on my face and each sob stabbed me anew in the chest.
Lying there wasn’t going to do me any good, and there was much less light filtering though from the street now. I didn’t want to spend the night down here. With much cursing, grunting and groaning I managed to get to my knees, and discovered a whole new collection of agony. I was about to try standing upright when I saw a package on the floor; the rations Eddie had promised me. Then I saw the package was torn. I crawled over to it, looked inside, and found two rations missing. The bastards had even stolen my food.
I sat back on my heels and despair washed over me. It had all been for nothing. I had to eat one of the rations now, or at least part of it, even though it hurt to move my jaw. I hadn’t eaten for a day. Twenty-four hours later, or two days at the most, I would be back where I started — nothing to eat and no way to earn more food.
I sat with my back against a pillar as I chewed tentatively, and even through the discomfort the mere fact of having food in my belly made me feel a tiny bit better. It occurred to me that I could steal, that it might be my only option, but I pushed it away. I couldn’t think about it, not yet. First, I had to get back to Corina.
The pillar made getting to my feet easier, but I was dizzy and each breath was a knife ripping into my side. The shallow breaths robbed me of energy, and I had to lean against every pillar I passed to catch my breath for a moment before I could move on.
The ramp was the worst, and I almost gave up. Walking on the flat I could manage, but going up was too much for the bruised muscles in my thighs, and I had no strength in my arms to help pull myself along. It was all I could do to hold on to the railing and keep myself on my feet. By the time I made it to street level it was dusk.
I needed to hurry. I was in an area I didn’t know too well, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to find our safe house in the dark. I shuffled along as fast as I could, holding onto railings or leaning against buildings when my vision blurred, or the strength in my legs gave out. Luckily, I found the right street before night fell.
I sat on the bottom step of the two flights of stairs I needed to climb, and tears rolled down my cheeks again. I didn’t mind. There was barely enough left of me to care. And yet, with my hands on either side to steady me, I managed to lift my butt far enough to get it onto the next step. A few minutes later I forced myself to do it again. Though a part of me envied Corina her isolation, her inability to feel, I couldn’t ignore the terror I had seen in her eyes the last time she had been cut off. The thought spurred me, and I made a dozen steps in quick succession before my arms gave out.
I don’t really remember the rest. I must have done it, though, because I was on my hands and knees outside the door to the room where I had left her. I crawled inside, blind, and felt my way across the room. I had hidden her inside a cupboard — fortunately close to the ground — but it took three goes before I found the right one. My hand patted around, touching her first and lingering for a second, then finding the charging cube, and finally the halo.
I sat back on my heels, slowly raised the narrow band towards my head, then froze. Was this the right thing to do? Wouldn’t it tell her she wasn’t alone if I just hooked her up to the power? How much of my pain would she have to live with too? I realised it wasn’t my decision or problem. She could control the link, but only if it was there. I dropped the halo over my head, and a moment later Corina's voice was in my mind.
‘Thank you, Jax. Thank you for coming back. I was so alone. It felt like... Jax? What have you done?’
I leaned forward to get my hand in the cupboard again. ‘I’m not so bad. Just an idea that didn’t go so well.’
There was a power socket on the floor, which was wonderful, and I put the charging cube against it. Trying to keep hold of the delicate wire to connect to Corina was all but impossible, as was trying to feel where the hole was I had to plug it into.
‘Jax, I can feel your hurt. What did you do? And stop fiddling with that. This is more important.’
It wasn’t, so I ignored her and kept on trying to connect her to the charge device. ‘I went to a wrangler and took a risk on a full sensory job that went wrong. Corina, I have no work, and no food, and the system won’t let me earn any. What are we going to do?’ The wire finally slipped into the hole and I let my arms fall with a groan of relief. ‘The system says I’m registered, but that nobody can pay food credits to me, so nobody will let me work.’
‘Hush,’ said Corina, appearing in front of me. She was on her knees, to my left, and her outstretched hand wandered an inch above my body, as though she was feeling me. ‘I can’t sense anything more serious than the rib, but that feels — well, it could be better. But I can feel your pain. Do you have any medication?’
I shook my head. ‘All kept under lock and key in the housing units. Never had a chance to borrow anything. Never thought I would need to.’
‘You have to rest to heal, but you won’t be able to like that.’ Her hands reached forward, to either side of my face, and she moved her head until it was right in front of mine. ‘Sleep now, Jax. Things may be better in the morning.’ And I swear I felt cool skin on my cheeks and her sweet lips on mine as everything faded to warm, numb, darkness.
The thumping in my head eventually broke through dreams of me hammering on a door. I wasn’t sure if I was trying to get in or out, but I definitely wanted to be on the other side. As I swept my eyes blearily around the room something didn’t seem right, but wondering what it might be was driven from my mind by the sound of a door being kicked open and several pairs of heavy footsteps hammering into a room. It wasn’t ours, but it might have been the one below.
‘Corina?’
‘Here, Jax,’ She spoke to me, but there was no image of her. Also not a good sign. ‘You should disconnect me from the wall and put me in your bag.’
An ember of suspicion started to smoulder in a corner of my mind. ‘Why, what have you done?’
‘Not now, Jax.’
I was already reaching for the charging cube. I wasn’t looking what I was doing, but when my hand came away empty I turned to look what had gone wrong, and had to confront my mangled hand, swollen, black and blue, and with the pinkie sticking out as a slight angle. And yet it didn’t hurt.
That was what was wrong. I should have been barely able to move, and in so much pain I wouldn’t be able to speak. I tried again as footsteps pounded up the stairs. I tried again ‘What have you done?’
‘I sent out a distress call.’
‘You did what?’ I actually spoke out loud, and heard voices outside our door start talking together. Not a smart move on my part. ‘Who did you call? Your people?’
‘I don’t know,’ Corina replied, whining like a six year old who knew she'd done "a bad thing" and was frightened.
They chose that minute to kick in the door, and it crashed back against the wall. Three people ran in, all dressed in black, two men and a woman. They weren’t proctors, unless they were some special unit that wore a different uniform. The woman was holding a box in her hand, lumpy and clumsy but obviously tech. One man was holding a long blade, and the other a black ‘L’ shape with a hole that he pointed towards me. I had seen them in my picture books. Guns. I held my open palms towards them and stayed very still.
‘Anything?’ snapped the man with the knife, obviously not talking to me.
‘Are they yours?’ I asked Corina, being very sure not to speak out loud.
‘No.’
I took a deep breath. Then they had to be Tech Mercs.
‘Looking for anything in particular?’ I asked, quietly, calmly.
‘Shut the fuck up,’ said the man with the knife. He worried me the most; he was jittery, and his head moved from side to side in sharp jerks. The other man flicked his eyes at me then dismissed me. Perhaps he thought I was just a tramp.
It was the woman who looked at me properly, and whose eyes I held. I didn’t trust her either. She looked hard, with eyes as sharp as the blade being tossed from hand to hand by the short man. It took me a moment, but I realized her close cropped hair wasn’t blonde, it was grey, and she was way older then I first thought.
‘What happened to you?’
I tried to grin but knew my face hadn’t moved properly. Corina had done something, I was sure of it. ‘System decided to deregister me. Couldn’t work so I tried a wrangler. Should have asked a few more questions about the work, I guess.’
‘Tara, we don’t have time for this deadbeat,’ said the tall guy with the gun. ‘Is it here or isn’t it?’
Tara flipped him a finger, which made me want to grin again and didn’t even look away from me. ‘How the hell did you get deregistered? Who’d you piss off?’
I didn’t answer her. I spoke to Corina. ‘Do we want these people? Quick answer.’
‘Yes.’ Without a fraction of a second delay, and in a strong, positive voice. I shrugged and turned my attention back to Tara.
‘I think they’re pissed I rescued somebody out of the Dag dome.’
‘Bullshit,’ said the knife and before anybody else could move he stepped forward and kicked me in the shoulder. I fell backward, and as I hit the floor every hurt inflicted on me the day before was bright and new. I screamed.
‘Isaac, you animal. Do that again and I’ll have Tom shoot you.’
Isaac looked rebellious for a moment, and angry enough to cut the woman deep. The other guy, Tom, turned the gun until it pointed towards Isaac and raised his eyebrows. Isaac licked his lips and backed down, but I could feel the anger and resentment boiling off him. ‘Newton will hear of this.’
‘Oh, button it, prick,’ snapped Tara, then turned her attention back to me. ‘Who did you rescue, and how?’
‘Proctors are about two streets behind us, Tara. Do we have time?’
Tara held her hand up to Tom, but not in a rude way. I knew it was my turn. I held up my bag, waiting for someone to nod that I wouldn’t get another kicking for putting my hand inside. I took out Corina’s sheath, popped the end off, and let her slid out into my hand.
‘I rescued her,’ I said, speaking to Tara.
‘Is that it?’ Isaac scoffed, but Tara’s expression was pure hunger; not greed, but curiosity.
‘Bring him,’ she snapped.