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THE CELEBRATIONS WERE brief. Broken by Ash-ka hearing fighting on the far side of the panel they were about to open into The Hab. Fluppit sighed, they were so nearly there and now they had to fight their way in? She could feel the frustration and unfairness rise in her throat, but she knew it would do no good.
“Hey Flup.” She felt a small tug on her cloak and turned round. “You. Were. Amazing!” Chik-chik threw himself into her arms.
She hugged him and smiled. Everyone needed a friend like Chik-chik. For all he could be a pain, at moments like this? He was worth his weight in fish.
“Thank you. I’d kind of done it before I thought too hard about it.”
“What was that?”
“I don’t know Chicky, I really don’t.”
The scrape of metal, to the side was followed by muted chatter. Then Ash-ka brought everyone to attention by a bark of “Silence!” Then, “Scouts, to me.”
Fluppit heard groaning as one of their patients tried to get off their stretcher. Of course, he was a scout. “Not you, hot stuff,” said Sha-cha and tried to settle him down again, “You need to sit this one out.”
Fluppit thought she should check in with Sari as that was really where her responsibilities lay, and there was little she could do to help the scouts. When Fluppit got to the stretcher, Sari was sitting up. “Hello dear, are you okay?”
Fluppit laughed, “I’m okay. I was more worried about you.”
“I think I’m past the worst of it—” She stopped in a brief coughing fit that she tried to silence with a hand over her mouth. They earned a ”shush” from the sentry who’d been left at the gap in the metal wall. Fluppit found a water flask and offered her mentor some. “We need to check on the samples,” Sari said quietly once the hacking had stopped.
“You stay, I’ll check,” said Fluppit.
“Have you still got the list?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Fluppit fumbled in her pockets and then unshouldered her pack and rifled through that. “Yeah here. It’s a bit battered, but I can still feel the writing. I can’t find the stylus though.”
“You’ll have to improvise. I hope there is nothing to scratch off the list as missing. It’s a bit far to go back now.”
“Yeah, it is.” With that cheerful thought, Fluppit shuffled off to find the trolley in the huddle of Fire-folk and equipment that was their baggage train. Having found it with the two sisters who had chosen to guard it, but who never seemed to speak, Fluppit explained what she wanted it for and said she’d return it, but then wheeled it back to where Sari lay. She figured by doing that she’d save some legwork when Sari wanted to check every flask herself. But they worked as a good team now and when the scouting party came back with news, they’d found no lost bottles and only one crack in a bottle whose contents didn’t need to remain in fluid anyway.
A huge crash sounded outside the breach in the wall. There was a collective squeak. Dust shook from the roof and rained slowly down on everyone’s heads.
“Ss-teady!” said Ash-Ka. “We’ve found a route through. The fighting is still heavy so keep together and keep your heads down.” As if to punctuate the end of his brief announcement a bark of weapons fire came from outside. Fluppit winced. “We keep flat against this wall on the other side, when we’re through the breach, to keep us as low profile to Air-sense as we can. If the combatants hear us, they’re not expecting us, so they may attack us whichever side they’re from. We need to find an outpost of the collective and have the pup or Sari report on our behalf.” Fluppit kind of hoped by now that Ash-ka would be prepared to call her by name. She felt like she’d done quite a lot in the way of bravery and proving herself and wondered was it the fact that she was a female or just young that bothered the old commander about calling her by her name. “When I give the signal, we move.”
Fluppit jumped at a prod in her back and rushed to Sari’s side, “We’re going to need something to keep the flasks sheltered when we go out there. Right now, they’re just sat on the trolley and one direct hit and all of our work is wasted.”
Fluppit hadn’t even considered that. “What were you thinking of?”
“Right now, whatever we can find. Anything is better than nothing.”
“There’s a lovely piece of wall over there,” Chic-chic said.
“That is far from a crazy idea,” said Sha-cha, joining them. “Our scout friend is well enough to join the fray, I think. Ash-ka is having him stay with the main column as a guard for now, but we can dismantle his stretcher.” With the piece of bended metal from the wall hole and the remains of the stretcher, they fashioned an armoured lid to the trolley. It was going to make it harder to drag, but that seemed low down the list of everyone’s problems.
“Go!” said Ash-ka, and he stood on the outside of the improvised doorway herding everyone out until the whole column was out and creeping along the wall. The fighting noises seemed farther away, on the far side of the Hab now, but that wouldn’t prevent them being hit by a catapult rock or a stray needler round. The part of the Hab they were in was right against the Grey Duchy. Had they just sneaked through Grey Duchy territory to get where they were? Well now to get out and across to the other side.
There was a mighty crash ahead of them and a rain of soil. “Run!” yelled Ash-ka.
