Opalina Outpost

Chapter 13 /Part 2/

Even while digging and hauling tubing around and helping Yorune stretch a long, oily panel of cloth like a fence halfway across the basin they'd created, Lio didn't understand what was happening. But Yorune was a cheerful and encouraging taskmaster, and for once, almost no one complained as they worked. And then the back-aching preparations were finished, and all that was left to do was test it.

Yorune stood in the shallows, both hands pressed to her chest. Duhar whooped as the Swordfish skipped over the lake, towing the submerged extractor behind it. The tubing that Rosareen and Onfenka had attached stretched like a single pale tendril from the extractor back to the basin.

The top of the extractor began to spin, making a miniature whirlpool in the green coated lake. A minute later, Lio heard a sputtering, slurping sound behind him, and turned just in time to watch the tubing vomit up a mound of green sludge. It oozed down into the containment basin as more of it bulged from the rudimentary piping.

"Yorune!" Lio shouted, trying to jump in the infernal waders. "It's working!"

And then it was really working. Yorune, sister goddesses bless her, thought to put them in shifts so everyone got a bit of a break from shoveling the never-ending morass of featherweed from the containment basin into the dumpster. Hands cramped from his turn with a shovel, he waded into the lake to help sweep featherweed toward the current of the extractor.

Teres and Ravi were near the bank scooping the plant from the surface of the brackish water, and Lio splashed toward them. The gunk at the bottom of the lake dragged at his steps as he carved a path through the featherweed, close enough to hear their conversation.

"I used to be big into hand to hand arts." Teres used a net to push the waterweed out of the shallows. "When I was little, I begged my father to take me to a training ring."

"Did you ever learn any of the disciplines?" Ravi asked, moving to stand parallel with her.

Teres did not lift her gaze from the water. "Nah, couldn't really afford training. I still like watching the competitive bouts, though. Sehet Rama is the coolest." She spotted him drifting closer and lifted her voice, teasing. "Isn't that right, Lio?"

"So true." Lio nodded slowly, searching for a safe lie. "He's astounding." Could be astoundingly good or bad.

Unfortunately, Teres burst out laughing and Ravi grinned. He'd flubbed his attempt to sound knowledgeable about anything to do with elite combat competitions. Shocking. "What?" Lio asked, glancing between them.

"Sehet Rama is a fighting discipline, not a person," the com said.

"Well, yes," he lifted his chin in Ravi's direction, looking down his nose. "I was about to clarify that when you interrupted me." His heart expanded when Ravi smiled at him. It was the way he'd smiled when Lio had first managed to make him laugh, fond and sweet and a bit bewildered. Suddenly he wanted to swoon into the lake.

"Teres," Ravi began, "have you ever taken a physical assessment for an Enforcer unit?"

She shook her head.

"Any Enforcer careers come up on your pathways assessment?"

Lio darted a glance at her. Teres bent close to the featherweed and made a noncommittal sound. He understood her trepidation, but for all the talks they'd had, they still had not produced a plan for her future. If she would share her dilemma, Ravi would know what to do. Lio danced a little closer and prodded her in the calf with the net.

"Ow, Lio, what the—"

"Just tell him," he muttered. "He'll help."

Teres pressed her lips together, and then peered back at Ravi, who was watching them carefully. "The thing is, Com, I...I didn't take the test."