After Moses Prodigal, page 6
A funny feeling worked its way into the back of Davey’s skull. Even after a year, he still wasn’t used to anyone but Grace caring about his whereabouts. He decided to ignore it. “What did you tell them?”
Matthew winced. “You probably don’t want to know.”
Davey stopped in his tracks. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He sighed and took off his hat, rubbing his forehead. “I told them what they wanted to hear. Raipur was settled by colonists from India. Being one of China’s next-door neighbors back on Earth, their ancestors felt the backlash of the Red Holocaust more than just about anyone else. Millions of refugees swarmed their border, their economy virtually collapsed, and then there was the Bombay Cataclysm.”
“I’ve never heard of it.” Earth history wasn’t one of his strong suits. It probably wasn’t many people’s these days, but Matthew had read an awful lot of books. He wasn’t most people.
“A small unit of Chinese military officers, posing as refugees, managed to smuggle several tactical nuclear warheads out of the ruins of China and into India. They set up camp in Bombay, made demands, and tried to take the entire city hostage.”
“Damn,” Davey said. That was desperate. What could they have possibly been hoping to gain from it?
Matthew nodded. “Three of the warheads were detonated before they could be stopped. Add a couple million deaths to the Red Holocaust. A lot of Indians have some lingering resentment against the Chinese, as you can imagine.”
That explained the slurs that the soldiers had lobbed his way. They’d reached Matthew’s bike. “That’s not fair. That was like two hundred years ago.”
“No,” Matthew agreed, “it’s not fair.”
Davey’s eyes narrowed. “So what did you tell them?”
Matthew mounted the bike. “Like I said. What they wanted to hear. Something horrible that I’m not going to repeat. And the captain of Precinct 14 received a pocketful of bribe money.”
Davey got on the bike behind Matthew, his mood going from sour to bitter. He hated being reminded of his heritage and the thought that Matthew had to use it to manipulate the local authorities made him sick. People were monsters. It was no wonder the human race was going to go the way of the dinosaurs.
“I’m sorry, Davey,” Matthew said, quietly. “I didn’t want to have to do it.”
“I know,” he replied. “It’s... It wasn’t your fault. Let’s go get my bike. I’ll tell you how Grace and I got separated on the way.” His stomach worked itself into a knot. Grace was lost and now he was stuck in a city full of people that hated him just because of his ancestors.
Sometimes life was terrible.
MATTHEW LISTENED TO Davey’s second run through the story. This trip to Ceres had managed to go into an immediate death spiral. The four crew members still accounted for sat around the table in the Sparrow’s common room. Yvonne had made a vegetable stew for dinner, but the bowls were left mostly untouched.
“And then after the comm cut off, you heard what kind of sound?” he asked.
Davey hit his spoon on the table to emulate the noise. “A clanking sound? It’s kind of hard to describe.”
“Maybe she dropped her comm,” Yvonne said, “and that’s why she cut off.”
“And why she didn’t call back,” Abigail continued. “Do you think that’s what you heard?”
He looked unsure but nodded cautiously. “It fits. I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I lost her. I took my eyes off of her for two seconds, and she’s gone.”
“You had your eyes on a threat,” Matthew said. “That’s the only way to keep yourself in one piece. Grace’s decisions were her own and not your fault.”
“Some relief that is.”
Matthew chose not to respond to that one. No, it wouldn’t be much relief to Davey, even if it was true. If there was one thing that he took seriously, it was his sister’s well-being, and he was going to take it hard one way or another. And if the worst came about...
“Well, why are we just sitting around?” Abigail asked. “If Grace is down there somewhere, let’s go find her.”
“For once we’re in agreement,” Davey grunted.
“It had to happen eventually.”
Matthew pushed his bowl aside and grabbed a tablet. He pulled up a three-dimensional map of Ceres that showed both crustward and coreward cities. He slid it across the table to Abigail. “Where?” he asked. “Where do we go?”
Abigail took the tablet and studied the map, rotating it periodically. “Where does Raipur’s coreward road go? Isn’t that the place to start?
“Possibly,” Matthew said, “But it may not be that simple. The Raipur road heads down to Delving, before continuing on to Blight and finally reaching Port Jacobson. She was hitching a ride on a vehicle, right? Where did it stop?”
“What was she even doing?” Davey asked, snatching the tablet from Abigail. She glared at him but must have had the sense to leave him be, given the circumstances.
“Now you’re asking the right question,” Yvonne said.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s simple, really,” she continued. “What was Grace most likely doing to get herself into this trouble?”
Abigail snapped her fingers, a heavy metallic sound given her suit. “Following the slavers. Right.”
“Morgensen slavers,” Matthew nodded. “And that’s our lead.” He gently took the tablet back from Davey and put up an overlay that split Ceres between its two major syndicates, White Void and the Morgensen family. The cities were split somewhat equally between the white and red regions. The surface was divided between hemispheres, with Raipur and Bright Crater staring each other down on the dividing line. The core was more of a mess, a jumble of intermixed territory. “Delving and Blight are both Morgensen controlled. Either is a viable starting point. The bigger question is, where do the Morgensens take fresh slaves?”
Davey bristled. “You don’t think... You don’t think they caught her, do you?”
“She’d give ‘em hell with those bracelets before she’d let that happen,” Abigail said. She talked tough, but Matthew could tell the possibility unnerved her.
“Hopefully,” he said. “For now, we need to figure out where the slaves are being taken and work from there.”
Davey leaped to his feet, bumping the table and causing his untouched bowl of stew to slosh. “What are we waiting for? Let’s head down there and get... I don’t know. Snooping?”
“You and I will leave tonight,” Matthew said. “Take the bikes and start in Delving. Start asking around and see what we can learn.”
“It’s possible you can kill two birds with one stone,” Yvonne said. “Anything we learn about the Morgensen operations will be useful in our other endeavor.”
Matthew had already had that thought but wasn’t going to voice it aloud. Davey was going to be one-track-minded, and rightfully so. “Go pack a bag,” he said to Davey. “She’s got at least a seven-hour lead on us.”
Davey nodded and left for his quarters. Yvonne and Abigail looked at him questioningly. He could only shake his head. The odds of finding her were terrible, and they all knew it. The population of Ceres was a bit of a mystery, but most educated guesses put that number at above twenty million, two-thirds of which were in the core. One lost teenager in that was going to be like finding a safe haven in the storms of Jupiter.
“What about us?” Abigail asked.
“You’ll need to stay here with Yvonne,” he said. “I don’t want to leave her and the Sparrow undefended. Take a job if you get bored but stick close to Raipur in case we need you.”
Yvonne shook her head. “Actually, she needs to take a job or two. We don’t need to dip into the red ink. We’ll call Benny and see if he can scrounge a solo job for Abigail. He’s used to finding jobs for both of you.”
Abigail punched a fist into her other palm. “This town won’t know what hit them.” She softened abruptly. “Bring her back, Matthew.”
“That’s the plan. Everyone better say your prayers because this is going to take more miracles than the ones Grace wears.”
ABIGAIL WATCHED MATTHEW and Davey’s bikes leave the warehouse and the rumble of their engines faded into the distance. A cold knot of frustration settled in the pit of her stomach. There wasn’t anything she could do to fix this one. She rode the lift back up into the hold, her mood sour. Given a choice, she’d be following on her own bike tearing the core apart until they found Grace. Being stuck up here was going to be miserable.
No. Grace was going to be okay.
The lift finished its ascent. In a far corner of the hold, Yvonne was on her knees in her garden. Some months back, she’d managed to convince Matthew to give her a small area in the hold for an experiment. Together, they’d built an enclosure, brought in soil, and set up lamps to give light and warmth. So far, she’d only had mixed success. The green beans and squash had come in by the bucket load, as well as the herbs. The peppers and tomatoes were another story entirely. They’d split two green tomatoes among the five of them and had yet to taste a pepper.
Abigail walked over to the garden. Yvonne glanced up at her briefly and went back to her work, picking the freshly ripened green beans and placing them in a plastic tray.
“You know,” Abigail said, “it’s a little late in the day to be elbow deep in work.”
“You won’t be getting much sleep, either. I fail to see why you’re begrudging me being productive.” She tossed a handful of bean pods a lot harder than was necessary, and one of them bounced out of the tray.
Abigail stooped to pick it up and fingered it gingerly with her enormous armored hands before dropping it in with the others. “I know you’re frustrated. I am too. I’d rather be out there finding Grace or the Morgensens or anything else right now.”
“You don’t want to be babysitting me,” Yvonne said.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It was implied. Trust me, I understand. You think I like living my life stuck on this ship, everyone always worrying about me? You think I like that we’re within an hour and a half of the man that ruined my life by being fool enough to become infatuated with a woman twice his age? Or that the man that killed my husband is probably just as near.” She stood to her feet, tucking the tray under her arm. “Maybe you’re right. Bed sounds good right about now.” She pushed past Abigail.
Abigail fumbled for a moment, not sure what to say. The other woman had always been the levelheaded one. “Wait. Yvonne. I didn’t... Is there something I can do?”
“Give me my old life back,” Yvonne said acridly. “Can you do that? Goodnight, Abigail. I’ll let you send the message to Benny.”
She disappeared up the ladder, cursing to herself about her knee. Abigail walked over to it and glanced down. A handful of beans had fallen from the tray tucked under Yvonne’s arm. Abigail scooped them up and hit the light panel, plunging the hold into darkness except for the glow of the garden.
She climbed up to the main deck, feeling helpless. Like she was sinking to the bottom of a well. She dropped her handful of beans on the table and walked towards the crew cabins. Yvonne’s door was already shut. That was fast. Part of her wanted to knock on the door, but the sane part of her brain knew that would only cause more conflict.
She stepped into the cockpit and pulled up the display to send a message to Benny. The broker lived on Mars, so it would be some time before he got back to her. She’d check for his message in the morning. Maybe he’d turn up something good. Roughing up some punks would put her in a better mood.
“Hey, Benny. It’s Abigail. I know you were already trying to get a job or two sorted out around here, but there’s been a change of plans. Matthew’s off on a side thing right now. See if you can round up something just for me.”
She sent the message. Retreating to her room, she opened her suit and crawled out the back onto her bed. For a long time, she lay there unmoving, angry more than anything, her mind flitting back and forth between Grace and Yvonne. Finally, she crawled into her wheelchair and rolled into her bathroom to get ready for bed.
MATTHEW WEAVED PAST another long convoy of heavy trucks. He and Davey had been traveling down the coreward road for well over an hour already. It was late, or rather early, by this point, and there was very little civilian traffic out and about. Just convoy after convoy of trucks moving raw materials and goods between the cities. That in and of itself was a good sign. Despite the fragmented nature of Ceres, most of the cities still managed to get along with each other for trade purposes. Most of the time, anyway. Everyone agreed to stay on the same time system. When you’re underground, there’s no reason for the whole world not to sync up their clocks to the same twenty-four-hour schedule.
He glanced over his shoulder. Davey rode some distance back on his new bike. It was a gaudy looking thing with too much chrome and terrible fuel consumption. He’d made his opinion known on the bike and then let the kids make their own decisions. No way he was going to step in and be the bad guy when he could just let regret set in. That would be the better lesson anyway. It was going to be hard not give them an I-told-you-so look. The only problem was that Matthew wasn’t entirely sure that that day was going to come. Davey loved that bike.
But not as much as he loved his sister.
Matthew grimaced. He was worried about Grace, but he was also worried about Davey. Once upon a time, the kid would have done crazy things if she were in danger. He’d come out of the Duke’s habitat caring about exactly one person: Grace. Willing to do desperate things to protect his sister, he’d been a danger to others until he’d gotten a broader perspective on life and become an important part of the crew. And a better brother too.
Hopefully, he wasn’t going to have a relapse here.
There wasn’t anything Matthew could do except help him find Grace and hope that she was okay.
Ahead of him a ring of yellow lights around the tunnel flashed, warning that the core tunnel was coming to an end. They had passed through Ceres’ ice mantle and were fast approaching the city of Delving. He hit his brakes to slow down to a safer speed. Davey caught up and fell in beside him. They reached the entrance checkpoint together, stopping at the booth.
Matthew paid the highway toll and the entrance fee and showed their credentials. Matthew still kept his old Arizona citizenship. No one turned that down. Davey’s ID was a little more complicated due to the fact that neither he nor his sister had any paperwork or official records anywhere when they had joined the Sparrow. When Antioch was founded some months back as an autonomous colony, they’d both been issued shiny new citizenship cards. Davey as an adult and Grace as a ward of Matthew. This worked great on Ganymede and the rest of the Jupiter Neighborhood.
Other parts of the solar system were more skeptical of the new colony and its citizens. Hopefully, that would wear off as time went on. The customs agents spent an agonizingly long time on Davey and had to make several calls before they made a decision. By the time they were allowed to pass, the wee hours of the morning were quickly fleeting. On Mars or Earth the eastern sky would be turning pale with the first light of dawn. Here in the depths of Ceres, day would never come.
Not that night ever came either. Their bikes drifted into the main cavern of Delving and they pulled over to take in the sight. Matthew guessed it was six or seven miles to the far side and maybe half as wide. The cavern curved upward as it went, and gravity seemed to turn with it. Rather than looking at a skyline in the distance, they were looking at the tops of buildings and could see the layout of the far away roads almost as if viewing a map from above. Hundreds of thousands of people were crammed into the cavern between that vista and where they currently rested. When building the city, they’d used whatever surface space was convenient to build upon, rather than obeying the normal logic of keeping down a uniform direction. Grav plates removed some of mankind’s oldest constraints. It was a strange kind of freedom and not one that was put to good practical use in most cases.
Of course, once the grav plate factories gave out, the colonies were going to be in dire straits. Moses hadn’t bothered to elaborate on just how grav plates were able to curve spacetime and deliberately obfuscated the factories that produced them. All the colonies were living on borrowed time, but cities like Delving were going to run into problems sooner than anyone else due to the sheer number of plates they needed and their lack of adherence to their planetoid’s natural down.
“I forgot how crazy the view is down here,” Matthew said, whistling.
“You ever been to Blight?” Davey asked.
Matthew shook his head. “No, never gotten that far. I try not to come down to the depths. Give me an open sky and a view of the stars any day over this chaos.”
Davey grunted. “If you think this is nuts, wait till you see Blight.”
“Hopefully that won’t be necessary.”
Davey looked out over the city, his face twisted with worry. He never had been good at hiding what he was thinking. “So, what now?”
“Find a place to spend the night,” Matthew said. “Or rather what few hours are left of it.”
“And then?”
“And then we try to find out where Morgensen slaves go in the core.” He fired up his bike’s engines again. “Come on. I may not come down here often, but I know a place that’s friendly to freelancers. Cheap bed, cheaper meals, and people that will know the local crime scene.”
“Lead on, then.” Davey throttled his chopper to emphasize the point.
Matthew stifled a yawn as he pulled back out into the street. Ten years ago, a twenty-two-hour day wouldn’t have even slowed him down. Now it was almost unbearable. “I’m getting old,” he muttered under his breath and fired the engines.
ABIGAIL MADE IT A POINT to get up early, much as it pained her to do so. Rather than her usual nine o’clock alarm, she set it to eight. It was a pity to get up at such a forsaken hour when there wasn’t a job to tackle, but she knew she needed to check for a message from Benny. Matthew wasn’t around to do it, and someone still had to keep the business side of things going.
