Through Fire

Through Fire - Chapter 04

The Rhino rumbled north along the broad black strip of the way where it ran parallel to the sea, calm blue waters shimmering on the right all the way to the horizon. Behind, shrinking with increasing distance, squatted the granite crags of the shield wall, while on their left stretched a grassy plain. The rig's turbine ran at half power, keeping it at a stable six metres off the smooth surface of the way, but even at lower power the wind howled across the rig's outer skin. All this Flint knew, but it occupied scant few scraps of his attention as he sat in the soft leather pilot's seat on the left side of the cockpit, right hand on the wheel, left poised on the bank of keys set into his armrest. In here, and the rest of the crew compartments, walls packed with layers of aerogel shielded the roar of the wind and the growl of the turbine, muting them to a low hum that Flint found comforting.

He reached past the wheel and flicked the fuel gauge, but it continued to give the same reading in glowing orange: 20%. He looked up at the way, and saw how it stretched far off into the distance, curving around with the line of the bay, until it ended at a tall, white tower that glimmered in the morning sun.

"That's Glory Point, isn't it?"

He turned and saw Diana leaning over the back of the other chair. "Didn't hear you come in."

She shrugged and plopped down into the empty chair. "Didn't answer my question."

She'd managed to open and shut the cabin door without making a sound. He looked back at the distant tower. From their position on the way, it seemed that the tower thrust straight up from the water. "Yeah, that's the Point."

"That doesn't look so far. What would happen if we went straight there?"

He thought for a few moments, but not so much about her question. He'd been furious when he'd left her in the kitchenette, but once he'd got the rig out onto the way, he'd felt a lot calmer. He might not be free of Bay City yet, but he was in his rig, he was driving, and the way looked clear. That very sense of peace, however, made it easier to realise just how alarmed and upset the girl had looked when Caerlion had shown up. He eyed her now, watched her melt into the copilot's chair like a sleepy cat, and she seemed almost a different person, but he could still make out traces of tension at the corners of her eyes and mouth.

"You going to answer me, you damned rigger?"

He took his hand off the wheel, and rubbed his forehead. "You shouldn't say that all the time."

"My father did. He said it every day."

"Yeah, well he was a rigger. It's different. Anyway, I bet he didn't say it to every rigger he met."

She took her lip between her teeth. "I guess he mostly said it to the mirror, when he cut himself shaving." She pursed her lips. "But you still haven't answered me, and that's rude too."

He gave her a tight smile. She gave as good as she got, he thought. "So, right, this stretch of the way goes direct to the Point. If we didn't care about the race, we could get there pretty soon. It'd take longer than you think, though; that tower's huge. It's much farther off than it looks."

"What if we went faster? You do have a big huge turbine on this rusty old hulk, don't you?"

He tried to remember if Buck Ambrel had talked that way. Whether he had or not, he had a lot to answer for. "Yeah, about that..." He pointed at the fuel gauge. She gave him a blank look, and he sighed. "See, I didn't stop for fuel on my way into town the other night. So even if I wanted to win the race badly enough to cheat, and I was stupid enough to forget that the inland way stations have radios, I couldn't actually rush us up to the tower."