Sunspire (The Reach, Book 4) (12 page)

Duran shook his head disdainfully, but Zoe seemed to mull over Talia’s words more thoughtfully.  Silvestri tried to think of a retort, a counter to the argument, but he had to admit that what Talia said made sense.

“I say we give it a shot,” Zoe said.  “For now.”

Duran sighed.  “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

“Do you have a better idea?” she said.

“Why waste my breath?  I haven’t won an argument with you yet.”

Zoe gave him a mocking grin and patted him on the cheek.  “That’s the spirit.”

There was gunfire at the opposite end of the alley, and people began running in all directions.

“Shit, let’s just get out of here,” Yun said, already backing away.  “The relay is this way.”

“Go,” Silvestri said.  They required no further urging.  As they began to move away, Silvestri fell in beside Talia and lightly touched her arm.  “I hope we don’t regret this.”

She gave him a faint smile.  “So do I.”  She dialled a number on her holophone as they hastened along the alleyway, then began to speak into it.  “Knile?  Are you hearing this?”

“Are you calling the longwave again?” Silvestri said.

“Trying to.  I’m not hearing anything back, so I’m probably wasting my time.”

“There’s a chance he could be receiving you, but isn’t able to talk back.  You might as well try.”

She glanced behind them, where more shots were being fired as the dock doors of the Reach began to close.

“Knile, we made it out of the Reach,” she said.  “We’re okay.  We’re going to try to get in touch with Silvestri’s contact off-world, and then head over to Bagley’s to see if we can get our hands on a dirigible.  It’s the fastest way to get to Sunspire.”  She paused.  “Knile?”

Hearing nothing but static in reply, and with more people entering the alley behind them, she was forced to stow the holophone in her pocket once more as they made it to the next intersection.

Now they began to run in earnest.

The streets of Link were chaotic.  Although many of the commoners had seemingly fled, there was still a plethora of armed men and women marauding about.  Sometimes they were grouped in threes and fours, but for the most part they hunted in packs much larger.  Talia and the others were forced to respond to each encounter on its merits; at times they found cover and returned fire on those who sought to confront them, and on other occasions they were forced to run.

It made for slow going across the city, and a journey that would normally have taken less than an hour ended up lasting far longer.  Fortunately, having Talia and Roman’s local knowledge helped them find shortcuts and escape situations that might otherwise have resulted in them being captured or killed.

Eventually they made it to the relay, a nondescript spire of metal and wires that stretched several storey
s high, hidden behind an abandoned apartment block.  Yun used a screwdriver to open a panel at its base, then began digging around inside.

“What is this piece of junk?” Duran said.  “It doesn’t look like it could send a message across the street, let alone off-world.”

“This happens to be a smuggler’s best friend,” Silvestri said, slapping the spire’s metal housing.  “I made plenty of deals with off-world contacts over the years through this thing, and others just like it across the city.”

Duran smiled humourlessly.  “Good for you.”

Yun secured a thin cable to a slot on the panel, then handed the other end to Silvestri, who connected it to his holophone.  Silvestri tapped the screen several times, then shook his head.

“No signal, Yun.”

Yun muttered something incomprehensible under his breath, then turned back to the panel and began checking the wires within.  After a moment he leaned back again.

“I’ll try a bypass.”  He pointed upward to where a length of cable had been spooled around a hook.  “Can someone climb up there and drop that cable down?”

“On it,” Roman said, vaulting into action.  He braced himself between the spire and the wall of the apartment block behind it, working his way nimbly upward until he reached the cable.  He loosened it with a deft flick and sent it curling downward.

“Got it,” Yun said, grasping the cable and feeding it in toward the panel.  “This won’t take a sec.”

Silvestri watched over his shoulder for any sign of trouble, but a moment later the sound of Roman’s voice drew his gaze upward.

“Woah,” the boy said, looking out across the city.  “This is…”  He trailed off, and for a moment there was nothing to be heard but the distant chatter of gunfire.  A flaming piece of debris lit the sky for a split second, then burned up above the city.  “Oh, damn,” Roman said finally.

“What is it?” Talia called.

Roman pointed.  “That smoke out there… that’s Grove.”  The boy sounded distraught.  “It’s got to be.”

Talia watched the plume of smoke for a moment, then looked up at Roman compassionately.

“I’m sorry, Roman.”

“They destroyed it.  Torched it.  Fucking
bastards
.”

“You should come down, Roman,” Silvestri said.

“I had friends there,” Roman said, his grief turning to anger.  “Good people who just wanted to live in peace.”

“Grove would have been the first target hit by the slummers,” Duran said.  “Your friends would have known that.  If they had any sense, they’d have left before it happened.”

Roman tilted his head downward at Duran, eyes blazing, but at that moment Silvestri’s holophone lit up.

“That’s it!” he exclaimed.  “I’ve got a signal!”

“Then do what you have to do,” Zoe suggested from where she stood watch over the entrance to the alley.  “We should keep moving.”

Silvestri dialled the number he had memorised for Captain Ngozi, and Talia pressed close to him to get a better view of the screen.  The call was answered almost immediately, and the face of a dark-skinned man with a glinting, shaven head appeared.

“Mr. Silvestri,”
the man said in a deep voice.  He grinned, flashing a set of very white teeth. 
“What’s going on down there?  Sounds like all hell has broken loose.”

“Captain Ngozi,” Silvestri said.  “It’s good to see your face.”

Ngozi leaned back in his chair comfortably, taking a sip of blue liquid from a shapely glass container.

“Is it, now?  Why do you say that?”

“Because you’re the one who’s going to get us off this rock.”

Ngozi’s smile faltered. 
“Not from what I’ve heard, my friend.  They’re saying the habitat was destroyed, that the Wire was cut.”

“It was.”

Ngozi frowned, perplexed. 
“So how exactly am I supposed to get you out, Mr. Silvestri?  We were supposed to rendezvous at the Consortium habitat.”

“Change of plan,” Silvestri said.  “We’re going to meet you somewhere else.”

“Oh really?  Where?”

“Another elevator, a placed called Sunspire.”

“Sunspire?”
  Ngozi placed the drink on the counter before him and began to tap on his console. 
“What is that, exactly?”

“A space elevator.  It was decommissioned a few decades ago, but we’re hoping to get it working again.  We have people up there who can help.”

Ngozi seemed to pore over the data feed before him, then laughed. 
“This is some kind of joke, right?  You’re not seriously asking me to try docking at this relic?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m asking.”

Ngozi sighed.
“I’m sorry, old friend, but I was just about to pull the cruiser to somewhere safer.  Things have gone nuts on Tranquility Two since that explosion
at the habitat
.  In fact, the entire moon is a hotbed.  Absolutely crazy.  The Consortium is paranoid that–”

“You can’t leave!” Talia said, grabbing the phone and tilting it toward her.  “Please, Captain Ngozi!”

Ngozi recoiled in surprise. 
“Well,”
he said. 
“You’re keeping some attractive company these days, old friend.”
  He gave Silvestri a wink.

“Captain, you
have
to meet us at Sunspire,” Talia insisted.  “If I could tell you what we’ve been through…”

“Yes?  I’m listening.”

“We fought all the way to the roof of the Reach and
took down the Redmen who were stationed there.  We protected it all through the night against the crazy bastards who were trying to take it from us, and then, after all that, it ended up being for nothing.  The habitat was destroyed, and we were left stranded.”

“I see,”
Ngozi said pensively. 
“And where exactly are you right now?”

“We just left the Reach,” Silvestri said.

“According to the data I’m seeing here, Sunspire is a couple of hundred clicks away from Link,”
Ngozi said, staring at the screen before him.

“Yes.”

“How are you going to get there?”

“Leave that to us,” Talia said.

Ngozi’s expression turned serious for the first time as he considered. 
“Do you really think this is possible, Silvestri?”

“Absolutely.  We’ll be there, I guarantee it.”

Ngozi rubbed his brow. 
“If your friends can get the pinger working and activate a cruiser dock, then it might be possible.  But I won’t even try unless they can guarantee the seals are still in order.”

“We’ll do that.”

“The dock needs to pass diagnostics, one hundred percent.  I don’t want an explosive decompression blowing a hole in my hull.”

“I promise, we’ll take all the necessary precautions,” Silvestri said.

Ngozi inclined his head, then took another sip from the glass. 
“And one other thing.  I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I can only give you a window of forty-eight hours on this thing.  There’s just too much heat up here.  Patrols are everywhere.  If they catch me smuggling illegals, it’ll be my ass.”

“Forty-eight hours?” Silvestri said.  “Is there some wiggle room in there?”

“Afraid not, old friend.  I’m sorry, but I just can’t take the risk.”

“We’ll make it,” Talia said adamantly.

Ngozi hoisted the glass. 
“I’ll have a round of Saturn’s Tears waiting for you if you do.”
  He checked the console again. 
“Give me another call when you’re closer and we’ll fine tune the arrangements.”

“I don’t know if we can do that, Captain,” Silvestri said.  “We might not have access to another relay between here and there.”

“Damn.  You’re really doing this the hard way, Silvestri.”

“It’s the
only
way.”

Ngozi shrugged.
“So be it.  I’ll be at Sunspire in forty-eight hours, on the dot, and that pinger better be loud and clear.  It better be
screaming
as it guides me in.”

“It will be,” Silvestri said.

Ngozi’s face softened. 
“Good luck, Silvestri.  I mean it.”

“See you at Sunspire.”

Silvestri closed the call as Roman dropped down beside them, and Talia took a deep breath.

“I’m starting to believe we could actually make this work,” she said.

“There’s still a long way to go, and not much time,” Silvestri said.  “But yes, it might work.”

Talia dialled the longwave again, unable to keep a smile from creeping onto her face.  “Knile, we’ve spoken to Captain Ngozi.  The cruiser is on its way.”  This time she did not bother to wait for a reply before putting the phone away.  “I sure hope he’s hearing this.”

“So what the hell is a pinger?” Roman said.