Trina fought the sense of familiarity, of comfort, as the dark tunnel closed around her. She didn’t want to be this person anymore. Not even waiting for the panel to close after she pushed the button, Trina set a fast pace. The sooner she did this, the sooner she could return to her new life.
Her footsteps sounded loud against the distant chatter of machinery.
Energy flowed through her, and Trina sped up as this world laid claim to her. A brief thought of Marcus and Aaron whispered through her mind, a reminder of the other world she shared. Would she ever be happy among them? Content she could manage, but happy? Could she lose the thrill and challenge in favor of a lifetime of mundane work? Katie had always claimed Trina loved taking risks, and it seemed she’d been right, at least in part.
Her life on Ceric had its hardships, but she’d never settled for content. Content would have meant she stayed a pickpocket and sustained her family without any luxuries or even Mother’s medicine. She wouldn’t have chosen that route.
Her mother’s image floated before her, not the healthy, happy woman of her childhood but the withered, dying one. Dying because of polits and their experiments. Her fingers crept to the vial where it bumped her with every stride. She didn’t slow down as she pulled it out of the pocket again. This could have saved Mother.
In her mind’s eye, she saw the Tasrien commons. Children and adults she’d often seen playing, learning, and working instead lay curled in pain, too weak to lift their heads. Grandfather might only care about Menthak, but she had as much connection to the places she’d done his meddling in as to the Menthak commons. No matter what he thought, she did this for everyone.
Trina stopped next to one of the location markers to catch her breath, only then aware of how she’d been running without a thought for who else haunted these spaces. She pulled the vial free, worried the seal had loosened in her haste.
The liquid took on a bright glow that spread when she shifted, as if it had broken free of the stopper and wasted itself in the ducts. She checked, but the seal held.
Trina replaced vial then froze. Small sounds carried from behind her. Glancing up, she realized the marker exposed her much as lit junctions had in the shafts. She slipped out of the light’s glow.
The noises didn’t stop. They didn’t sound like a robot, nor did they sound as if someone snuck through. She could hear footsteps even the poorest thief would have muffled.
Trina considered revealing herself to what must be a crewmember and giving up this responsibility, but nothing had changed. After the delay to escape Katie, there was even less time.
Trina turned away and set off in a quick trot, hoping to hear the sounds disappear off some other route. They didn’t. She went faster and the noises behind her sped up as well. Definitely not a robot, nor a crewmember. Who else walked the tunnels?
She felt for her knives, only now realizing she didn’t carry even one. She’d lost her edge in just two months of playing colonist. Trina had only wits and wiry strength to aid her, not enough especially when she had to be quick about it.
Speed remained the only choice, and Trina took advantage of her familiarity with the tunnels to lose her pursuer. The running cost her. She could no longer hear who came after, but no one caught up, so she kept going. Tasrien waited.