Jasyn watched the men replace the thorn barrier. She wanted to scream, to rush at the barrier and rip it free. She wanted to run into the night. She wanted to search the canyon until she found Clark. Dace had seen him. He was safe, somewhere. She squeezed her hands into fists. They were going to win free but it would take patience.
Taffer crouched in a group with Ruttie and several others. They had her com unit and the disassembled wand that had come floating down the stream last night. Ruttie studied the paper delivered by the man with Dace.
They whispered about frequencies and settings. Ruttie grinned like a maniac. Jasyn wanted to help, wanted to shake them into working faster. She didn’t have any knowledge or skills that would help. She made herself sit down, out of the way. She pulled at the wide white collar around her throat, easing an itch.
Roz slipped around the clearing to sit next to Jasyn. Her face was white and pinched. She stared at the group working on the wand. “Do you really think this will work?”
“Will it matter if it doesn’t? If it does, we’re free.”
“It hurts to hope,” Roz whispered. “If I let myself hope, and we don’t get out, I don’t know if I can live any more.”
“I think we all live on that edge.”
“You think Dace can get us out of here?” Roz turned her face to Jasyn, studying her in the dim light. “She doesn’t look like much.”
“You’d be surprised. She’s a survivor. And she’s got luck to spare.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get out of here, now, tonight.”
Thunder rumbled.
“Wishful thinking,” Roz said. “Don’t start listing what we still need to do. I just hope they can find a way to neutralize these.” She plucked at her own collar.
Jasyn yawned. She eased a finger under her collar. The itch intensified.
“They know someone’s out,” Roz said. “That’s why they itch. They know. They’re searching. They’ve done it before. Your friend’s luck had better be good.”
Roz crawled away.
Jasyn swallowed hard and ran her fingers under her collar. What would they do to Dace if they caught her? The stories she’d heard about escape attempts tormented her with grisly images. Was it really hopeless? Were they trapped here until they died?
Thunder boomed. Water poured out of the clouds. There wasn’t any point in taking shelter. She let the water pour over her and silently prayed that Dace would be safe, that the rain would hide her well enough to escape. She fell into a fitful sleep full of shouting and pouring water.
Morning brought a gray drizzle. The clearing was damp, puddles collected under the twisted tree that dominated the center of it. The sluggish stream was swollen, lapping out of its banks to add to the puddles. Jasyn woke stiff and miserable in the damp. She pushed her long dark hair out of her eyes and shuddered at its appearance. It hung in lank strings. Jasyn stood, moving through the group, asking for her comb.
Ruttie had moved his experiments into the driest spot under the tree. He had the wand completely dismantled. Wires twisted and trailed through the sand. He peered at the paper, wiping water from it. She stood behind him for a moment. The writing on the paper was tiny, rows of neat text that meant nothing to her. She moved off after a moment.
One of the other women, a short stocky woman by the name of Berrie, had her comb. Jasyn settled into the wet sand near her and wasted time combing hair.
Time dragged by. The rain drizzled from the gray clouds. Jasyn combed hair and twisted it into braids, tying it off with threads pulled from frayed hems. Jasyn wished for soap, any kind of soap. She watched Ruttie use her nail file on the wand. It was the only thing even close to a tool they had. She rubbed her torn nails across her palm. She could ask Ruttie for the file. It wouldn’t do much good. She held her hands in front of her, fingers spread, studying her chipped and broken nails. Her hands were rough, her slender fingers bruised and growing calluses where the blisters had been. It didn’t matter, she thought. When they got free, when they got back to a civilized world, she’d deal with it then.
Taffer picked his way over to her. He grinned as he crouched on the damp ground. “Ruttie thinks he’s got it figured. With that chart they brought us last night, he worked out the frequencies it works on. We can blank its effects with your com unit. It won’t cover much but it might help.”
“That’s one problem solved,” Jasyn said. “If we had several dozen com units, we could break out now.”
“One will be enough. It has to be.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because it was you and your friend that brought the equipment in.” Taffer shifted his feet away from a trickle of water. “And because I want your help organizing our escape. Do you remember your way up the cliff?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t very awake through a lot of it.” She rubbed her left hand, the one that had been swollen for two days from accidentally grabbing the sticker plant.
“Can’t be helped,” Taffer said. “I want you to lead the group heading for the ships. We’ll work it out with the others. A small group needs to find the generators and shut them off. And we’ll need a group to keep them occupied while we do it. Most of us need to head up the cliff to the ships.”
“What ships?” Jasyn asked. “The Phoenix can’t take more than thirty, if we can even get her off the ground.”
“Your friend mapped out the cliff edge. She says there are at least fifteen ships that could fly, once the fields are shut down. We aren’t leaving anyone here. Unless they refuse to come.” Taffer scratched behind one ear.
Jasyn offered him the comb. “You want me to lead the charge up the cliff? I’ve never led anything in my life.”
“Then it’s time to start, isn’t it? We’re meeting three nights from now, give them a chance to settle down after last night.” He dragged the comb through the tangles of his hair.
“Roz said they knew someone was out, from the collars,” Jasyn said, not quite sure what she was trying to ask. “Is that why they itch?”
“I heard the shouts last night, too,” Taffer said, answering the question she didn’t have the nerve to ask. “We can only hope they got away. If not, we’ll probably find out tomorrow. We can hope the Spirit of Space holds them safe.”
“There isn’t anything else we can do, is there?”
“I wish there was.” Taffer handed her the comb.
Roz interrupted them. “Ruttie said he needed a volunteer. I’m volunteering.”
“It could be dangerous,” Taffer said, squinting up through the drizzle at Roz.
Roz shrugged.
“So be it.” Taffer stood, brushing wet sand from his shipsuit.
They moved everyone except Roz to the far side of the enclosure. Ruttie gave the com unit to her and moved back. He held the wand in front of him.
“Ready?” Ruttie asked, his voice a hoarse mutter.
Roz nodded. Ruttie twitched the wand. Roz grimaced. Her hand clutched the com unit tighter, her other hand turning the dial. Ruttie lifted the wand, waving it back and forth. Roz bit her lip, her hand shaking. Jasyn’s collar started to itch.
“Enough,” Taffer said.
Ruttie lowered the wand. Roz gasped and dropped to her knees, still clutching the com unit. Jasyn hurried over to her, right behind Taffer.
“How does it work?” Taffer asked.
“The pain isn’t too bad,” Roz said.
“Quit lying,” Jasyn said.
“It’s muffled,” Roz said. “It isn’t as bad.”
“I had it on full power.” Ruttie plucked the com unit out of Roz’s hands. He frowned over it as he dropped to the ground to pick at the insides. “Try this.” He pushed the unit into Roz’s hand. He didn’t give Taffer or Jasyn time to move. He held the wand over them.
Jasyn’s collar buzzed, growing warm. Little spurts of pain tingled down her arms. It eased quickly. Ruttie lowered the wand, grinning like a maniac.
“Now we just need to figure the range of that unit,” he said as he took it away from Roz again.
“It worked, on all three of us,” Roz said. “It really worked that time.” A smile spread over her face. “We’re really getting out. And then they’re going to pay.” Her smile twisted into something menacing and not quite sane.
Jasyn watched her and shivered inside. She couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding that crawled up her spine.