Fractured Earth

Chapter 9 Part 1

The Commensurate had occupied the Enduvi Fissure for a mite longer than the Missionaries, and so had a foothold with a few of the Mining Federation's union leaders already. Marhasl Isen had secured a meeting between Oleipha and a few of the men, and briefed her as they walked across the dusty earth to the sprawling, noisy compound.

"You'll be meeting with two of the fissure workers today. Both are respected members of the federation presence at the Enduvi Fissure; one a member of the workers' union, Sembi Dasuki, and another of the trade union, Lucia Olu. Both are wary of the Missionary presence here, and they actually requested this meeting with us today themselves in light of some new Missionary developments that they're concerned about."

"What developments?" Oleipha struggled to keep her gaze away from the gaping chasm to their right. The actual edge was well fenced off, and they were walking at least twenty paces away from the vertical drop, but the sheer size of the thing was giving her vertigo - and the constant wind pushing at her from the left wasn't helping.

"They haven't said, yet - insisted they'd tell us this morning during the meeting. We have more contacts here, but I thought I'd start you off with just these two - they're good people, and you won't feel inundated. It can feel a bit like being ganged up on when you're in there with a room full of the miners. They're pretty intense."

"Thank you," Leiph smiled across at her friend. She appreciated being eased into the situation, but honestly, she'd take any distraction she could get right now. Her thoughts were still spinning from their chat the previous evening - about what the Missionaries might be up to, their plans involving her and Ranal.

They'd talked a little more before Marshal Isen had taken her leave for the night, and had started formulating a pan - at least, the bare bones of one. If the Missionaries were intent on playing her and Ranal, using their relationship to get an inside ear to the Commensurate dealings, then she'd use that to her advantage. The more she thought about Ranal's increasingly bad behaviour, the less guilty she felt about using him in the same way that he was using her. She'd feign ignorance, let Ranal think he'd won her over - sick to the stomach though that made her feel. It would be worth it, she kept reminding herself every time she felt the bile in her throat rising at the thought of her deceitful once-friend. It had to be worth it.

They entered the compound through a series of heavy double doors that served to block out the perpetual dust; they worked only barely. Stark corridors of yellow-grey metal led them deeper into the facility, past rows of identical doors and beneath strips of cold light. They hadn't descended at all, but Oleipha still felt a little claustrophobic, as if she were deep underground.

"Pretty grim, isn't it?" Isen said quietly. Their footfalls echoed around them. "Don't worry - this is all function over form, just for the entrance complex. The living quarters are much nicer."

"Oh," Oleipha replied, relieved. "I'm glad. This part is pretty... dismal."

They turned one last corner and Oleipha noted that the thrumming drone of machinery was louder now - they must have been gravitating towards the canyon's current worked section. Isen opened a door and led them into a large meeting room with several windows that looked directly out over the divide. Oleipha's stomach lept to her throat. She put a hand on the doorframe to steady herself, and noticed that their meeting companions were already present - Lucia, a tall, muscular woman with a shock of long mousey-brown hair and fierce, dark eyes; and Sembi, shorter at least by two heads than his counterpart, but thick-set, with close-cropped black hair and a wirey beard shot with streaks of grey. His eyes were pale hazel, and wrinkled at the corners with kindness.

"Hello," Olephia smiled apologetically, her knuckles turning white from her death-grip on the doorframe. "I must apologise - I'm not very good with heights, it seems."