“Absorbers are rare, George. Why under the sun would you need two?”
Georgianna stepped further into the car and perched on the edge of the seat next to Beck.
“We went to see Nyah, the girl we’re trying to help,” she explained. “She says that there is another drysta there with her.”
“That’s risky. Those collars aren’t easy to remove and doing two in one go?”
“I know, but, Beck… He’s a Belsa. I can get you his name. The Adveni is a commander called Maarqyn Guinnyr. Nyah says he’s suffering.”
Beck didn’t meet her gaze as he rubbed his hand through his hair, a heavy furrow in his brow. He shifted in his seat and leaned forward onto his knees, staring at the crate in front of him.
“I’m sorry.”
Georgianna blinked and watched him in confusion. He was sorry? She didn’t understand why he would be saying sorry to her, unless it was an abstract apology to the Belsa under Maarqyn’s control.
“I don’t…”
“I can’t help you.”
“You can’t… You’re saying no?” she spluttered.
He glanced up, disappointed but resolute.
“I have to. It’s too high a risk.”
“But he’s one of yours!”
“You don’t know that,” he sighed. “This man could be lying to seem important to your friend. You know that Belsa are not sold.”
Georgianna turned, leaning across the gap between them. She grasped his arm, looking up at him, pleading.
“Beck, please.”
“Geor…”
“Why?” Georgianna cried. “I don’t understand!”
“Because I’m fighting a war, Georgianna!” he snapped. He shook her from his arm, getting to his feet so fast that he kicked the crate away from them and into the opposite wall. “I can’t risk a dozen good men to save one. You think I want to leave him there? I have no choice.”
She was on her feet right after him.
“You do. You could help us!”
A steely glare met her.
“I need to think of the people I have here. Those absorbers are hard to get hold of, and the time it would take to remove two collars would get all of you killed. I will not lose more men than I would save over this.” His glare, if possible, hardened further. “And you will not drag them in against my orders. Are we understood?”
The silence was bitter. She had always trusted that he was doing the right thing. Not any-more. This was not the man who had snuck them from the camp and taken them to see a mother bear with cubs, even though her father had told her that it was too dangerous. This was not the man who’d sat with her parents long into the night around a campfire.
Georgianna stepped back to the door.
“Not doing everything you can to save one of your own,” she muttered, throwing a glare over her shoulder. “Only thinking of the mission?”
She snorted in derision.
“You fight the Adveni, but you know, Beck… You’re just like them.”
***
“Shit!”
Georgianna leapt away from the shattered glass as it bounced across the floor. Sitting on the side of the bed, she groaned and flopped backwards.
Keiran grinned as he leaned over, picking up another wheat beer and dangling it over her head. She glanced at him and reluctantly accepted it.
“The drink ain’t gonna calm you down if you keep throwing it around like that,” Wrench said, swigging a mouthful of his own beer.
“I don’t want to calm down.”
“Well, can you throw empty bottles instead?” Keiran asked, patting her on the head. “Some of us might still want to drink those.”
“He won’t help!” she screeched, launching herself back up off the bed. Placing the new bottle down, she crouched in the middle of the small shack and began gathering up the bigger shards of glass.
“We hear you, girl. The marshall’s a bastard.”
The glance Keiran threw in Wrench’s direction at his words was surprised but thoughtful.
“He’s one of our own. We should be helping,” he added.
Georgianna placed the shards of glass on the upturned crate next to the bed. She stared down at the men lounging on the bed, and frowned. Them saying that Beck was being unreasonable was all well and good, but unless they could find a way to convince the marshall to change his mind, they wouldn’t be able to do anything. Even freeing Nyah was looking less likely. Would she be willing to leave without the Belsa held with her?
“Look, Casey not being on side is a setback, but it wasn’t like he was all giddy to help in the first place,” Keiran said dismissively.
“We only have one absorber.”
“So we find another one,” Keiran answered.
“It’ll take longer.”
“Move faster,” Wrench replied.
Georgianna wasn’t sure that they were taking her seriously. How was it that they weren’t more worried? Their plan had just fallen flat. Beck refusing to help had devastated her. She’d been so sure that he would say yes, that he would be keen to save a Belsa, one of his own. She couldn’t go back to Nyah and say that they couldn’t help the unknown man.
Wrench and Keiran had debated the identity of the Belsa, but they’d lost so many, both to the compound and the ground, that names and fates became muddled together.
“Who will I get to help Taye?” she asked finally.
“Are we not good enough anymore?” Keiran asked.
“Beck said I couldn’t drag any Belsa into it.”
Keiran and Wrench exchanged an amused glance.
“Good thing we offered then, isn’t it?”
***
The dappled light from the oil lamp flickered across the roof of the tunnel above their heads. The oil was getting low, the bright flames slowly receding towards the wick. Georgianna watched the light play in the darkness, frowning.
“It doesn’t matter who it is, George,” Keiran murmured, brushing some hair away from her face.
“We still have to go back.”
She glanced at him to find a frown on his lips. He rolled further onto his side, shaking his head.
“It’s too dangerous. You’ve been there twice already.”
“But we have to tell them, they have to be ready.”
Keiran cocked his head to the side as he considered it. Turning towards him, Georgianna propped herself up on her elbow, resting her head in her hand. She wasn’t sure whether Keiran was worried about her, or the plan failing, but either way, it felt nice knowing he thought about those things. She’d been spending more and more nights with him recently, and when she wasn’t there, she missed the familiarity of having him next to her. She was quickly finding it harder to sleep when his breath wasn’t there to lull her into her dreams.
“Taye’s too jumpy,” he said slowly. “It was difficult convincing him to stay back last time, he won’t again.”
Georgianna nodded.
“We don’t tell him then.”
Keiran raised an eyebrow, his frown melting into a smile.
“You’d be a good Belsa, all secrets and sneaking around.”
“Maybe I’ve just known you too long. You’re a bad influence.”
He laughed, an infectious chuckle that soon had Georgianna giggling with him. They melted back into the bed, and as fast as the laughter had come, it was gone.
“I could do a delivery again,” Georgianna suggested.
“Too suspicious,” he answered, shaking his head. When Georgianna turned her head to look at him, he was staring at the ceiling with a faraway look. “I’ve got some contacts. Maybe I can find out Guinnyr’s schedule, get a time when he’ll be out.”
“Is it a girl?”
Keiran didn’t answer, but as Georgianna was considering whether or not to push him on the subject, the oil in the lamp finally gave out, and they were plunged into darkness.
YOU ARE READING
Dead and Buryd
Ficção Científica"You are an inmate, not a medic. You should get used to that." On the planet Os-Veruh, the native Veniche have endured a decade under the oppressive rule of a race of invaders, the Adveni. When Georgianna Lennox, a Veniche medic, discovers her child...
