Mahingga

Chapter 18: A Deal

Ako took to pacing the room as soon as they'd been locked inside. His mind was racing.

"Real smart," Kita said. "Telling him you could make a bomb."

"How was I supposed to know what he meant?"

"Will you stop that?" Kita said. She was lying back on one of the two cots in the room. She was still wearing her gray swimming clothes. They'd since taken off her arm restraints as well. "I can't get any sleep with you tromping around."

"Sleep? How can you sleep right now?" Ako asked, still pacing.

"Because I'm tired. That's usually how it works, Ako."

Ako made no attempt to hide his snarl. "And don't think that I didn't notice that information you shared with Yevan. You tried talking fast so that I wouldn't catch it, but what was all that about fighting? How could you have known that they're having problems with that unless you've been withholding information?"

"Oh please. Every single person on this refinery has a gun," Kita sneered. "You heard him talking about all those enemies of his earlier too. It's not that hard to put together. And I thought you were a genius."

Ako stopped pacing. "Also, you knew what the gun was before we ever saw one used. How'd you know that?"

Kita rolled her eyes. "The guy who landed on our boat said so. I had no reason to disbelieve him, so I repeated the information to you so you wouldn't get yourself killed. You're welcome by-the-way."

Ako sat heavily on the cot opposite Kita. "So, you have nothing else to tell me, then?"

Kita shook her head. "I have just as much info as you do, Ako. I think you're just a little grumpy from lack of sleep." She rolled away from him as if to make a point.

With a grunt, Ako sat back against the pillow. The cot was nothing like his bed back home, but compared to the wooden floor of the boat, it was bliss. Part of him still wanted to be suspicious of Kita, but he couldn't help but trust her. She'd helped him get this far, and she'd even saved his life already too. Though he was surrounded by horrible Pawids, she was the one Pawid in whom he felt like he could really trust.

Ako settled into the cot and started devising new plans to rescue his brother and get back home. He fiddled with his Palam, but hardly got more than a couple shimmers across the screen. There was a connection, but it was too weak to produce enough energy. Resigned for the time being, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

When Ako awoke in the morning, he was still tired and bleary-eyed. His body ached from the strain and beatings of yesterday. He groaned as he rolled out of the cot and a guard took him to a toilet, which was surprisingly similar to those in Mahingga.

Ako groaned again as he settled onto his cot and the guards brought him and Kita their breakfast.

"I think that's enough groaning," Kita said as she scooped up a spoonful of soup.

Ako grunted in reply. To Yevan's word, Ako wasn't given a spoon, so he had to slurp the soup by tipping his bowl. "Yuck. This Pawid soup is gross," he told Kita in Mahinggan. "I'd prefer that canned soup we got over this any day." He turned to the guards and spoke in Pawidan, "What is this stuff?"

A guard shrugged in response. "Dunno. We got it off your boat. Figured you'd want your own food."

Kita almost shot soup out of her nose as she failed to stifle her laugh. Ako frowned and finished the soup without another word.

"Alright, time to go," said one of the guards abruptly. Ako had barely managed to get down half of the soup.

Ako and Kita were ushered to their feet and herded from the room. They passed outside for a brief moment to get to the other building. A light rain dropped as gray clouds hung overhead. Ako caught a glimpse of the ocean, but saw no land. The facility looked as menacing during the day as it had during the night, all dark gray, ugly metal, built in twisting towers, and steam issued from the top of several massive pipes.