GETTING TO SLEEP
Scene 57
Exhaustion took Alumaras, but he could not settle. Diamann breathed raggedly beside him, stirring in a spasm now and then, muttering a word or phrase. Alumaras looked straight up between the towering trees into blackness, trying to see a bit of the night sky.
I’m looking for hope. I’m just baggage now – I can barely keep up. Maybe I should just go through this portal thing back to Muathen and find the Gellin people. Derizan is doing better than I thought he would, and he’s even got Selech calmer than usual. Having me not slowing them down would help them, except for this guy next to me. He won’t go back, that’s for sure.
Another brief bumping made him look toward the portal mound, but it subsided. Then Diamann spoke. “Won’t that thing just stop making those tremors? I was getting to sleep.”
“I’m thinking about going back,” Alumaras told him.
Diamann nodded. “You could. That battle got rid of the City people chasing you. You could be okay in Fornonpae or one of the Gellin towns. Not me.”
“Why not you? This trip is as hard for you as it is for me.”
“I was working for an insurrection group. I infiltrated one of the big corps and found a way into Gullinder’s intelligence service. I discovered the master plan they had for destroying all the colls, one by one. Then a… an old friend turned on me. I barely got out, but they want me dead, but only after they’ve needled everything out of me.” He paused. “And that ‘friend’ wanted my woman. That’s why he…” He choked.
“That’s all? He betrayed you, just for a woman?”
“Yes, he did. But if this bunch will have an old guy like me, I’ll keep going with them for now. At least I have a better chance than I did before you found me.”
Alumaras chuckled.
The two men lay gazing up into the tree-shrouded night. Gradually, sleep came over them at last.
# # #
“Psst!” Denzari came awake at the sound. It was Daryuz. “Is it morning yet?”
He hissed back. “Quiet! Everybody’s still asleep!”
“I miss everybody back there. I miss Kalianna. We were going to start a family.”
“Yeah, I miss mine too. They got away before the soldiers came. They’re hiding down with the Hejjis in Sobi Zone now. The troops don’t like going down there.”
“Hey, that’s where Kalliana went when they came for us! Do you think we could get in down there with them?”
“A bit late for that. Besides, it’s looking like the relocs are gonna be done on the Hejji folks too. That Guinban guy told me.”
“That’ll take a whole lot of troops.”
“They’ll do it with bug soldiers too.”
“The aliens?? Oh, no. Where did you get that? Guinban?”
“Yeah. That’s why they’re chasing him down. He’s not just a deserter – he’s a threat if he warns the Hejjis what’s coming.”
“Let’s try to get some rest. This outing is going to take everything we can bring to it.”
Ignoring the occasional tremors and rumbles from the portal, they drifted off.
# # #
Munizkara glimpsed Bunjaian ahead, moving quickly. Now where is he going? Mentrianos is ahead of him. I’ll have to stay out of sight, and not lose track. Glad I’m in travel gear, but I should have brought a dagger.
She paused as Bunjaian headed down the exploration tunnel to the broken hatch. It looked as if both men were heading for the portal shaft. That meant a long walk – or run – with risk of detection. She waited until Bunjaian’s footfalls faded, and then descended the rungs to the big tunnel and the tracks. Stepping lightly and stealthily, she moved toward the portal shaft. Far ahead, voices echoed faintly: two men. Good.
Arriving finally at the ascending rungs, a faint rhythmic scuffle reached her, accompanied by a rotting smell so repulsive that she nearly gagged aloud. She looked up, eyes watering, and waited. Far above, light bloomed and faded, a soft rumble came like faroff thunder, and silence fell. She began the long climb.
# # #
Munizkara paused in her ascent to listen, but no sound came down to her. She quickened her climb, feeling that the two men had used the portal. She emerged to see the glow from the pedestal’s panel, hastened to it, and the Sirathen symbol still carried a fading glow.
She paused for a few long deep breaths, which got her sneezing and coughing at the smells from ashes and ruined bodies. Finally, her breathing returning to normal, with her right index finger where she wore her bluestone Arcus Coll ring, she touched the Sirathen symbol.