Skykeep (17 page)

“Nita… what’re we gonna do?” she said, her
voice as steady as she could make it, which at this moment wasn’t
very steady at all.

“We’ll think of something,” Nita said.

“No… I’m no good for that. You gotta tell me
what to do.”

Nita tried to smile. “Hey. You’ve got
seniority on the crew. Shouldn’t
you
be giving the
orders?”

“We ain’t on duty right now, Nita. We’re in a
prison, so seniority don’t enter into it. And even if it did, I’m a
deckhand and you’re the engineer. If you give me orders, I still
gotta follow. So make with the orders.”

“This isn’t exactly the sort of problem an
engineer is intended to solve.”

“Well it sure as hell ain’t the sort of
problem a deckhand is supposed to solve.” Lil twisted to look Nita
in the eye. “Nita, you
gotta
tell me what to do.”

There was genuine fear in Lil’s eyes. It was
unsettling to see such a thing. This woman had thrown herself from
the ship to slide along mooring ropes to untie them. She’d
gleefully taken aim at better-armed ships and stared down people
twice her size. Not only had Nita never seen Lil afraid, she’d
begun to think it wasn’t possible. But now there was no question.
In this moment, Lil was a frightened young woman, up to her neck in
a situation she didn’t know how to handle.

“Lil…” Nita said, again quietly enough for
the guard not to hear. “This is a problem. You solve it the same
way you solve any other problem. Break it into smaller pieces until
the pieces are small enough to handle. We know that the crew will
come for us if they can find us. So all we need to do is find out
where we are and then find a way to tell them. So right now the
problem isn’t escaping. It’s simply determining where the prison is
located.”

“Find out where we are…” Lil said. Slowly the
fear began to drop away from her face as her mind instead grappled
with the problem. “Well… that’s just navigation. They never did
give me much of a turn at the ship’s wheel, but anyone who’s spent
much time on an airship knows how to navigate. They had me do that
plenty, because it’s easiest when you can see the whole sky, and
that means scrambling up on the top of the envelope. Pretty much
just me and Coop were willing to do that.” She smiled. “We just
gotta get a good hard look at the night sky. Someplace where we can
see the horizon, too. And we need to know the time. The more
accurate the better.”

“Okay then. Those are the smaller pieces. Get
to the courtyard at night, and find a timepiece.”

“But what do we do once we know? How do we
get it to them?”

“Hey, hey,” Nita said, placing a hand on
Lil’s shoulder. “First thing’s first. Our plate is full. We can
cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Nita paused to consider her tendency to rely
upon idioms to calm Lil down when their personal guard approached,
prompting both of them to hush up and turn to the bars.

“It’s yard time. Get ready to meet the rest
of your fellow prisoners,” the guard said.

#

Neither Lil nor Nita had known precisely what
to expect when they were led under heavy guard through a few halls
and finally up toward the top deck of the facility. The
best
of the fug folk seemed rather despicable and cold. What would their
prisoners be like?

The upper surface of the prison served the
purpose of its exercise yard, and while during transit they were
locked up, once they were on deck the guards removed the
restraints. It was just before midday, and though the sun was high
in the sky, the atmosphere was thin and blustery. Nothing Lil and
Nita weren’t used to from their time on the
Wind Breaker
,
but not the sort of weather a normal person would seek out. Given
the choice between it and the interior of a cell—or in Lil’s case,
the interior of a dangling crate—it was a refreshing change of
pace.

By coincidence or by design, Nita and Lil
were the first to reach the surface and were thus treated to the
procession of other inmates, one by one. It was clear by the time
the third of them had been released from his manacles that yard
time was not a reward, at least not for the fug folk. Each of them
squinted at the sun and shuffled into the shade of one of the
envelopes as soon as they were free. Most gave a wary glance at the
Wind Breaker
crew and gave them plenty of space. Nita had
been expecting anger, hatred, or at least distrust to be the most
prevalent reaction, but instead there seemed to be equal parts fear
and awe in their expressions.

Most of the prisoners were virtually
indistinguishable from the guards, save the presence of the same
checkered prison garb. It took a practiced eye to tell fug folk
apart, mostly because the withered and drawn features left little
room for variation. Then, mixed among what turned out to be about
sixty inmates, a few specific prisoners began to stand out. There
were a half dozen of them who had
very
little in common with
the others. They were all nearly a foot taller than the rest of the
population, with a build that would have placed them on the lean
side of average if they had been humans. For a fug person they
looked positively muscle-bound. Then came the last prisoner to be
released. This one was different, but it was difficult to put their
fingers on why.

“Is that… is that a
woman
?” Lil said,
staring at the last prisoner.

Indeed it appeared to be. She was a touch
shorter than most of the other prisoners. Though she was far too
lean to have any appreciable curves, there was something about the
purse of her thin lips, the angle of her hips, her posture. It was
subtly but undeniably feminine. And then, of course, there was her
voice, which they were treated to when she noticed they were
staring.

“What the
hell
are
you
looking
at?” she hollered from across the wooden courtyard in a voice a
register higher in pitch than the others.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—” Nita began to
reply.

“We’re not sure! Are you a woman?” Lil cried
with her usual tact.

The fug woman strode angrily toward them.

“Of
course
I’m a bloody woman,” she
growled when she was near enough to not have to yell to be heard.
“And what’s more, I’m a
lady
. Which, with manners like that,
you certainly are
not
.”

“I apologize for my friend,” Nita said,
mortified on behalf of the group. “My name is—”

“I know who you are. We all know who you are.
You’re Nita Graus. This one here is Cooper or something similar.
You are on the crew that destroyed the dreadnought.” She had a
voice that lent itself very well to being aghast. It was powerful
yet fragile, cracking and fluttering with her words.

“That’s right. Don’t you forget it. I’m Lil
to her,” Lil said, hitching a thumb in Nita’s direction. “But to
you and all these fuggers I’m Chastity Cooper until I say
otherwise.”

“What’s your name,” Nita said, trying her
best to offer a friendly face.

“I can’t imagine it would be of any interest
to you, but my name is Blanche.”

“Since when do fuggers have women, Blanche?”
Lil said, ignoring the attempted pleasantries and delivering the
question as though she wasn’t so much curious as angry that she
didn’t already know.

“Need I explain biology to your little friend
here?”

“No, you don’t need to explain biology. I
know about the birds and the bees, but we’ve had a
lot
of
dealings with you folks and never have we seen a lady.”

“Lil… maybe we can afford to be a little more
polite. It wouldn’t hurt to have some friends here.”

“That isn’t likely to happen among the
civilized
prisoners,” Blanche said. “I’m frankly surprised
you’re still alive.”

“You threatening me, Blanche?” Lil said,
cracking her knuckles.

“Heavens no,” Blanche said, taking a wary
step back. “Not by
our
hands. Look at those people. Half of
them are afraid you are homicidal monsters and the other is on the
verge of declaring you knights in shining armor. The
guards
are the ones who will eventually kill you!”

“The guards want us dead?” Lil said.

“I’ve been in this facility for seven years.
Do you think I would even know who you people are if the guards
didn’t curse your names nightly?
Everyone
in a formal role
within the establishment hates you. You took away their
teeth
when you destroyed the dreadnought. Or at least
knocked one out in full view of the rest of the world. Thanks to
you, people no longer believe they are invincible.”

“Them having guns, you’d think if the guards
wanted us dead, we’d be dead,” Lil said, casting a quick glance to
the nearest guard tower. Its sharpshooter was taking aim at the
women.

“I imagine they’ll wait until they’ve gotten
information out of you. Those vile cretins who make the decisions
always want information.”

“It sounds to me you’re not fond of the
‘establishment,’ either,” Nita said.

Blanche gave Nita a condescending look. “I’ve
been locked away for
seven years
. Do you think that would be
the case if the ruling class and I had any love for one
another?”

“What’d you do?” Lil asked.

“My personal life is none of your concern,”
Blanche said.

“What’re you, too stuck up to—” Lil muttered,
balling up her fists.

“That’s entirely fair,” Nita said. “Would you
mind answering some questions about how things work in this
place?”

“I’m not your mentor,” she said. “And if it
isn’t clear, I’m one of the ones who thinks you two are monsters,
so I’m not obliged to help you.”

“Well, if you’re not going to help us…” Lil
said, stepping forward and prompting another skittish retreat. Nita
wrangled her back again.

It was becoming increasingly clear that
Blanche was not nearly as confident and defiant as she would have
the crewmates believe. Nita didn’t need to be told why she was
behaving as she was. It was for the same reason that Lil seemed to
be spoiling for a fight. In the nightly chitchat that would occur
whenever at least three members of the crew had wound up eating
supper at the same time, the subject of how to handle oneself in
prison had been a fairly common topic. Coop and Gunner had each
spent brief stints in small prisons, and the captain had been
somewhat evasive about the details but had certainly spent time
behind bars as well. They insisted that the proper way to survive
and thrive within such an environment was quite similar to how one
established oneself in a rough crew of airmen. Illustrate yourself
as a force to be reckoned with at the first opportunity. Start the
first fight and win it. Though all three of the men swore by the
tactic, Nita was not so sure. If things became rough, she wouldn’t
hesitate to defend herself, but it seemed that things were
difficult enough for everyone in this place that making matters
worse as an icebreaker was not advisable. Besides, it was obvious
they’d earned their reputations
long
before being locked up.
Now might be a time to show a willingness to be reasonable.

“Again, I understand. Thank you for having
the courage to speak to us,” Nita said.

Blanche eyed Nita uncertainly. “What did you
want to know?”

“Are
all
of those folks either scared
of us or… the other one?” Lil asked.

“Most certainly,” Blanche said with a
sneer.

“I’m going to go find out who’s on which
list,” Lil said, stalking off toward one of the larger groups.

Blanche lingered near Nita as they both
watched Lil thunder toward them. When she got within a few dozen
steps, she made a sudden dash toward one of the clusters, then
stopped short and doubled over laughing when half of them scattered
as though a bull were charging.

“Your associate is demented.”

“It takes a special kind of person to survive
what she’s been through,” Nita said.

“What did
you
want to ask? You at
least wear a
mask
of civility.”

“Do we have yard time at the same time every
day?”

“Yes,” she said flatly, clearly not pleased
by the fact. “It is mandatory. Midday yard time, even in poor
weather. One of the things they do so they can search our rooms and
make sure for at least an hour a day we are miserable.”

“Does anyone get to spend any time outside
for any other reasons?”

“Good behavior might get you the odd midnight
yard time. At least then the sun doesn’t sting so much,” Blanche
said.

“What if—”

“You’re plotting an escape,” Blanche
said.

Nita kept her expression neutral.
“Pardon?”

“I know the look. I don’t know precisely what
you’re up to, but I know the sound of someone feeling around the
walls of their cage, looking for loose bars. We’ve all done it.
We’ve all thought we had the way out, found the weak link. There
isn’t one. Your choice is die in here or die on the way out. Don’t
waste your time. And if you do, don’t come anywhere near me when
you make your grab for freedom. Sometimes those sharpshooters miss,
and I’d hate to catch a bullet meant for you.”

With that, Blanche turned and walked back
toward the cluster of gathered fug folk beneath one of the gas
bladders, notably choosing the one farthest from Lil. Meanwhile,
Lil seemed to be exchanging words with the group she’d chosen to
harass, and though voices were raised, it didn’t seem to be the
beginning of an altercation. As would naturally have been the case,
Lil had selected the group with all of the strangely large fug
folk, and two of them in particular seemed to have smiles on their
faces as they listened to her speak. Nita had a feeling it wasn’t
wise to leave Lil to her own devices for too long, but before she
joined her, she decided a quick survey of the yard was in
order.