Chapter 17 - Hand of the Enemy

Chapter 17 - Hand of the Enemy

Common statistics from around the Empirium:

[Courtesy of the Empirium Guild of Records]

Every 3 in 100 Leokin festivals are shut down due to rowdiness and violence.

5 out of every 20 Flirins have been involved in piracy or smuggling, either personally or through family connection.

1 out of every 300 missing persons lost to Astrostorms are identified again.

0 of them survive.

  You would think that after six months of running from bad people, I’d be used to the feeling it gave me— but I’ll be honest, running through Lower Lisk with Scavengers chasing after me felt just as scary as it did the first time.

  Glimpses of curious eyes from windows, doors, and sidewalks peered at me as I lurched past them in a panic. Of course people stared. Why wouldn’t they? I was a small, unidentified Offworlder that had obviously done something to anger six Scavengers enough that, not only was I pursued, but I was also cursed and insulted loudly in a language I was very glad I didn’t know.

  I came up to a signpost with a one-eyed beetle perched moodily on one of its destinations. Good beetle, I said in my head, and took a sharp left.

  Chips in the rough pavement stung my bare feet as I flew down another residential block and the stairs of an old, unused level let-out. The tunnel was narrow and steep, and went dramatically downwards until I met a wide, empty street covered in dust and mildew and in near-complete darkness.

  The sounds of my pursuers drew closer in the distance. Again, I veered off into the darkness. Empty warehouses passed me on one side, raw cavern wall sped by on another.

  I ran my hand along the warehouse wall until I felt a small, circular engraving. If I had spared time to look, I would have seen a crude smiley. But no such leisure would be granted tonight. I slipped into a darkened lane between two warehouses and bent over double, heaving for breath in the darkness as I waited and strained for more signs of my pursuers. Hector caught up to me, landing on my head quietly, like he understood our need for secrecy. 

  Apart from my laboured breathing, everything in this corner of the level was silent.

  The shadows of the Warehouse District pressed in, studying me. I quieted down, leaning heavily on a thick, squat, Power Relay that once connected the long-gone alley lights to power. If I shut my eyes, and really concentrated on the silence, faint footsteps appeared in the heavy tapestry of mildewed quiet, drawing closer—

  Two hands grabbed me from behind, pulling me behind the Power Relay. I hit the ground hard, scrambling for my balance and readying myself for either taking a fist to the face, or giving one.

  “What in Eth happened?” Kan hissed above me. “I thought you’d died. You’ve been gone for over an hour—”

  One of the dead lights in the roof flickered to life weakly. I sunk against the power box, violent relief washing over me.  The light went out again. “Salts of the maker, Kan,” I wheezed, clutching my chest. “Please don’t scare me like that.” 

  Kan was silent, but I interpreted it as an apology, anyway. She craned around the corner of the warehouse to peer into the darkness as Hector, who had been startled off my head, found hers and settled comfortably in the nest of red hair. 

  “How far behind are they?” Kan batted the one-eyed beetle off her head. 

  I gulped down more air. “Not far enough to take a break.” Pushing myself to my feet, I nodded for her to follow me further down the alley. 

  “How many?” Kan asked.

  “Six.”

  “Six?!”  

  I twisted violently, holding a finger to my lips in a sudden rush of panic, or anger, or both. I looked at the walls of the alley, as if worried they heard, then kept going.

  No. Six was not ideal. But when was anything on Covien?

  When the noise of the Scavengers had fanned out into distant echoes, Kan and I had already mounted a strong ladder and were halfway to the warehouse roof. The metal groaned under the weight of the heavy half-Covienian, and I shushed her. She smacked my ankle in a wordless stop making more noise, you moron, and after another minute of shushing and slapping, we had made our way to the top.

  I held out my hand to help her onto the roof, an instinctual motion, but suddenly something just as deep pushed my hand away as sensations from last night rushed back to me. Freezing rain. The pink glow of the particle knife. The metal biting against my cheek as Kan’s shaking hand pushed me into the railing.

   I shuddered, forcing the memories away and my hand down to Kan. 

  “Do you need a–” Don't say hand. “–help? Do you need help?”

  Kan shook her head, pulling herself onto the roof painfully. “I’m fine,” she said curtly, uncomfortable. 

  I hoped it was because of the gash in her side and not because of my strange behaviour. I kicked myself. I needed to trust Kan. I pushed the memories away. 

  Now is not the time to think of them.

  Above us, the cavern roof was slick with condensation. The air was wet and smelled of mould, and around us, empty tanks sat about the roof in storage tarps like sad, dilapidated tree trunks. A few places on the warehouse roof had caved in, exposing the ugly metal bracing that sat inside all concrete structures. I already knew they were there, but I made sure to point them out to her. I received no thank-yous for my efforts from the Mixling, but Hector seemed to appreciate it as he fluttered from hole to hole in front of us. 

  On the other side of the roof, I poked my eyes above the railing, watching the Scavengers search the level. They slipped in and out of the main street, breaking down doors of the old warehouses and searching them loudly. They were shadows against the dim of their flashglows— brief spectres appearing only to dissolve into darkness one more.

  I fought a shiver. The adrenaline of running made me forget how good a Scavenger could be at moving unseen.

  “What now?” Kan’s question was directed at me, but she still kept a rigid eye on our enemy.

  “Wait for them to split. They always seem to.”

  “Why were you gone so long?” It was easy to imagine the notes of suspicion in her voice, but I told myself they were imagined only.

  “I had to go up a few levels– to a registry, actually Then I detoured around the hangars.” I gave her an experimental grin. “I have a lot of experience running from bad guys through this part of Lisk, remember?"

  Kan made a tired noise, the only indication that she might have found the statement amusing, but she didn’t look at me again. She remained focused, sternly watching the shadows below us like they were going to turn into Echos. “And this warehouse we’re using,” she went on, “you’re sure it’s safe?”

  “It belongs to… a friend.”

  Well. It belonged to Oli Preastigat. Which was not the same thing, but it was the only reason I knew it existed. When I was helping around his parlour, many times I had been asked to retrieve things from certain, discreet parts of Lisk. Mostly, types of metals the that Empirium would tax. This warehouse was unused, unmanned, and devoid of life— a perfect place to get smugglers to leave their goods, and for street urchins to take naps (the latter, Oli didn’t know about.)

  Kan’s face, somehow, became more suspicious. She finally looked back at me. A question in her eyes.

  I spread my hands, defensive. “Not everyone in Lisk is out to get you, you know. Have a little trust.” Smiley laughed at me, happily replaying the moment by the roof’s edge. I pushed it away, annoyed. 

  Kan didn’t seem impressed at my words as she turned back to look at the road below. “Trust gets you stabbed.” 

  I drew in a steady lungful of air as I studied her. I couldn’t help but look at the jagged markings that ran down her neck and dissipated under her thick jacket. Messy and chaotic,  and just like the rest of her, impossible to decipher. Kan’s ear went back without even looking at me. She flicked me an annoyed gaze as she turned her collar up. “Stop it.”

  I shrugged. “Stop what?”

  Kan’s dark eyes narrowed across her expression, and she shuffled further away. “Looking at me.” 

  I looked from side to side. “You know, I’m not going to stab you, if that’s what you're worried about.”

  “I’m not.” Kan seemed annoyed, but she untensed now that she could see me in her peripheral vision a little better. She surveyed the road again as the Scavengers broke into a warehouse about six buildings up. She nodded to herself.

  “What it is?” I asked, trying to keep my voice quiet.

Kan glanced at me, surprised for a moment that I had noticed her change of expression, then shook her head. “Oh, it’s just… this is good,” she mused, nodding to the street. “Them looking for you like this. Their desperation. It means that Lewis’s encryption is holding up. They don’t have any other leads.”

I nodded, bitter feelings rising even though I knew she meant it to be a good thing. 

  “Why did Lewis trust you?” The question left my mouth before I could stop myself, but I had been asking myself that question for hours. It wasn’t a new thought.

  Kan kept her eyes on the road, and if it wasn’t for the small shift of her weight, I would’ve assumed she didn’t hear me.

  “I mean, now I know why I trust you… because you’ve sacrificed so much for me.” I pressed emotion into the words, but tried to stay as curious as I could, not confrontational. Smiley howled in the back of my mind. Who did you say that for? Her or you? 

  I ignored the voice, pressing on. “But why did he? I mean… after stealing his arm. And chasing me. I thought…” I faltered, not sure where I was going. “Lewis is always just… so suspicious of everyone.” 

  Yes. Lewis. Smiley confirmed. No one else. 

  Kan took a breath. Not just to reply, but I suspected to fortify herself for a question she probably knew was coming for as long as I had wanted to ask it.

   “An interphase ago, I wouldn’t have known why, either.” She exhaled the breath, pausing. “But after encrypting his drive— seeing his neuralsynth read-out— seeing how many times that Bot has been overprogrammed…” She trailed away, sounding strangely open for once. “I think I’m beginning understand.”

  I frowned. “But Lewis said he’s only been overprogrammed once.” I wasn’t really sure what overprogramming was, but I knew it had something to do with the change of designations. Lewis had simply changed from a Servant Bot to a Port Bot after the war. I still wasn’t sure how this pertained to my question.

  Kan's gaze went back to the street. “Once,” she echoed softly, as if finding the answer amusing and sad. “He told you that, did he?”

  The words hung in the air like the over-ripe smell of mildew and hatred— the two things the warehouse district almost physically emanated. The words enraptured so much of my thoughts, that I nearly forgot that she didn’t even answer my question.

 Before I could press her to explain more, suddenly, she was stiffening, nodding to the road below as all emotion was pushed out of her expression.

  Unwillingly, I followed her gaze to where the six Scavengers were splitting into pairs. Two of them started retracing their steps, coming back our way and shining their flashglows into any cracks we might be hiding in, while the rest disappeared into the next level down.

  I blew out a breath, deciding to come back to Lewis later. “I guess that means it’s showtime.” I turned to Kan, standing carefully. “Did you make the thing?”

  Kan nodded, taking something that looked like a mutant street light from her brown bag and handing it to me.

  “It’ll do,” she whispered back. “Not that much different than the Bot signal blockers in Kovals', to be honest. I found an old Relay in the warehouse next to us, which made it easier.”

  I looked over the device, unable to hide the surprise in my voice. “Wow, I didn’t actually think you’d be able to make one." Kan frowned at me as I looked up from the tangled device. “I just meant like— It was an idea, but I had no idea if it was even possible.”

  I wasn’t sure if the blank look on the mechanic’s face was offended or horrified. “And what were you planning on doing if I couldn’t make this?”

  “Probably something stupid.” I held up the device, trying to make the action a fortifying one as I thought about what was coming. “But now I don’t have to.” Thinking it best to move on, I nodded to Kan. “Let's get this over with before I throw up.”

  Kan gave me a curt, tight nod, and left me at the ledge with Hector. I heard her find the warehouse hatch and open it as quietly as she could; I kept my eyes on the pair of Scavengers coming back up the street.

  When the Scavengers were about twenty metres away from our warehouse, I gave Kan a wide, sweeping sign. She dropped from view. Loud and dramatic steps followed, echoing down the stairwell hatch and through the empty level.

  The two Scavengers looked up, pausing at the unmistakable noise. Giving each other a hidden expression from under their Scavenger hoods, they hurried towards the door of the warehouse that I had left ajar two hours ago.

  Got them.

  I leapt to the stairwell, shutting the hatch soundlessly above me once I'd made sure Hector had followed. The smell of mould and damp concrete met my nose as I reached the floor. The warehouse was empty except for tall mining cranes that sat in pieces against each wall. I stepped off the stairs, finding a beat-up lantern swinging there. I reached up, steadying it like I wanted to steady my nerves. Kan didn’t trust me completely, but at least she had done as I asked.

  For a long while, the Scavengers didn’t come in. Silence stretched into time, warping my perception of the warehouse as it pressed in, making me question our plan. Kan was gone. Had she left me? Don’t think of last night, Smiley commanded.

  No. This was a part of the plan; I knew that. I shut my eyes, rubbing my right wrist like I could still feel the particle knife. Don’t think of last night. I opened my eyes, forcing my mind back to right now. Find Gray Raven’s lab. You can do this.

  After what felt like an age, soft footsteps drew near. 

  The door of the warehouse creaked open wider, and two tall, hooded silhouettes paused as they surveyed the warehouse.

  They were cautious– more cautious than I thought they would be. They lingered in the doorway like two shadowy omens, whispering to one another in their native language. Kan’s device in my hand felt wet, and I realised it was because my hands were sweating profusely. I tried to wipe them on my poncho, but it didn't make much of a difference.

  Finally, the shadows stepped in together. When they'd taken about ten paces, I took a breath, leant easily against the stairs to the roof, and flicked on the lantern.

  The glow it produced would have been small and feeble in the daylight, but in the almost-pitch-black of an abandoned mining warehouse, it felt like a sunrise.

  I could see their faces now. One young, one old. They looked up at the light in surprise. Confused. Hesitant, now.

  “Heard you were looking for me.”

  I could only imagine what I looked like— hood up and face hidden, leaning easily against the stairs like I had no care in the world that Gray Raven was hunting me. It must have been at least marginally threatening, because, slowly, concern started to bleed into their faces. I saw their eyes flick to my bandaged arm, as if they needed to confirm who I was.

  Behind them, the door slammed shut. I heard Kan lock it, and I felt relieved to hear signs of her existence in the shadowy room.

  The younger one, a man that looked a few years behind Xander, held up a thin, expensive looking wrist-cuff to his lips to call his fellows.

  I pointed Kan’s device at it, activated the very damp button, and was rewarded with an electronic snap. The Scavenger looked at his wrist in confusion, the panel on the cuff now a dead grey.

  “How about you don’t do that,” I said, lowering my hand and gesturing bashfully to the dilapidated warehouse. “I didn’t really tidy for company, so calling for back-up would be a bit awkward.”

  The older one frowned. She was on the back foot, trying to regain her confidence. “You will come with us to Vakara.”

  I shook my head sweetly. “No, thank you.”

  Kan materialised at my side, looking pale and terrifying, Hector on her head again. I gave her a confident smile to reassure her. There really was nowhere for the Scavengers to go, seeing as Kan and I had already prepared this warehouse and blocked off all the obvious exits.

  “Now. You’re locked in here.” I spread my hands. “My friend and the beetle have a pulse rifle. And they will shoot you if you try anything.”

  “What do you want?” the younger one asked, trying hard to make his voice sound aggressive and failing.

  “An answer to a question,” I told him. “Where is Gray Raven’s lab?”

  The Scavengers looked at each other, puzzled. 

  “Their… lab?”  His tone sunk to the pit of my being, but I shook myself. No. He must be playing dumb. “Yes,” I ground the words out, stepping closer. “Their lab. A prisoner was taken there. A Bot. I want to know where it is.”

  A query from the younger one in the Scavengers language, confused.

  An answer followed from the older one, even more unsure.

  Kan sighed heavily, face falling as the Scavengers started to worriedly argue with each other.

   “Oh gods, Evren… They’re saying they don’t know where it is.” 

  I double took at her expression. “How can you–” 

  She waved me away, lowering her voice as Hector climbed down to her arm to eye the Scavengers. “They think we’re going to kill them because they don’t know.”

  I didn’t have time to ask why Kan understood the Scavengers, although now the question was burning a hole through all my resolve. I shook myself, turning back to our hostages and steeling myself. 

  “You were looking for me. You sought to catch me. Where would you have taken me if you had caught me?” 

  The younger one really did look panicked this time. “To a tribe leader. They would have taken you to the Gray Ravens.” He swallowed, looking at the barrel of Kan’s pulse rifle. “Only the few and trusted know the way there.” 

  We stared at them, both unmoving, both unwilling to believe them. Even Hector stared, unblinking. 

  “Is this an act?” Kan asked, voice flat.

  The older Scavenger heard the dangerous tone from Kan and put her hands up. “We speak the truth. We are scouts. Not leaders.”

  The rifle went up, and hands with it. “Swear it on the Echoes.”

  Something shifted in their stances, panic at the oath. 

 “We swear it!” Horror filled every syllable of the sentence like water saturating through fibre in a cloth. “We swear it on the Echoes!”

 “Salts of the maker–" Kan rolled her head, cursing. “They’re telling the truth.” I’ve never heard anyone sound so unhappy about anything.

  I fought with the realisation, that sinking feeling inside me turning to lead, then mud. “They can’t be. Of course they would lie about this.”

  Kan was shaking her head. “No Scavenger would break the Guardian oath.”

  I blinked. That was new information. “But…” I sighed, hearing the truth in her words, if not the sense. “But we did such a good job getting them in here…” I complained bitterly, rubbing my eyes and feeling terribly, terribly tired. “I mean, I ran all that way, and then you made this, and then you shut the door behind them and it was super creepy, and for a moment, I thought we just might have a chance to-”

  “Evren,” Kan’s voice had dropped to a whisper, interrupting my complaining.

  I looked up, unsure as I saw the panic on Kan’s face. “What?”

  “You… didn’t shut the door?”

  I shook my head, dropping my hands. “No, you did.”

  Kan frowned. “No, I didn’t.”

  Even the Scavengers were confused. I looked over at them. “Did you?” I asked. They shook their heads. Hector made a noise on my sleeve, as if to also claim his innocence. 

  I stared in horror at the beetle. “Then who did?”

  Something jerked Kan back into the darkness. It wasn’t a moment later that I realised I was also being grabbed by the shadows at my back, something snatching my hands behind me as Hector took flight. 

  With a yell, I managed to land a wild elbow into the person’s stomach, and I heard a large rush of air as someone got very winded.

  My attacker loosened their grip just as the pair of Scavengers reached us.

  “Release her!” one of them cried, pulling a Ripple Charger from their belt.

  I realised too late that I was being used as a shield. 

  Quite uncomfortably, I was forced in between whoever held me and the approaching Scavenger, the Ripple Charger already coming down towards us. I shut my eyes, waiting for the torn muscle, the broken ligaments, the black outs, and anything else that Ripple Chargers were known for.

  It hit my shoulder. Energy pulsed into my limb and up into my brain. It was like sunlight, forcing its ways into my eyes, my mouth, my lungs, my everything.

  Slowly, I opened my eyes— realising what was missing from the blow.

  I saw the face of the Scavenger first, horror filling his features as he stared at the Charger. 

The person behind me swore. “What in all of Ethreal?”

  The young Scavenger was faster to recover from the shock. He realised his opponent was distracted and swung it over my head. They went down in an ugly crack, and I cringed away. Please don’t pull me down with you,  I mentally pleaded.

  “Kaes!” someone shouted to my left.

  I straightened from my cringed position. I knew that voice.

  I searched around the warehouse for its source just as the the Scavenger with the Ripple Charger went down with the unique buzz of a Pulser’s stun shot.

  The second Scavenger, now wary of the fourth voice in the warehouse, rounded to where Kan stood, currently being held at gunpoint by a tall, handsome looking Covienian with a paisley waistcoat.

  “You… you bastard,” the Scavenger spat after struggling to find the right insult in General. She leapt to stand in front of me as if to shield me from this new, unwelcome threat. “I knew you would try to interfere with Gray Raven at one point or another. How did you even know where the survivor was?”

  The Covienian with a thin, slickish-looking Pulser under Kan’s chin shifted, almost seeming to bow his head. “Please, ma’am, interfering is a nasty word, innit?” He looked to the lump on the ground that had just been ripple-charged. “Kaes! Kaes are you alright, chap?”

  The Covienian was answered with a groan from the ground.

  The man smiled warily at the remaining Scavenger– a dangerous expression. “You’re lucky he’s not dead, or else, I might have been very cross, Loyalist.”

  “I know of the Loyalty of which you speak. Do not accuse me of it.” She spat at the man. “I am loyal to Gray Raven. It is the only thing that wishes to keep the Plains People of Covien safe." The Scavenger tightened her grip on her Ripple Charger. “All they want is the survivor and the splice. Release them and and let us be on our way.”

  “No can do,” said the man, and Kan shut her eyes as the gun pressed deeper into her neck, letting out a small noise of discomfort.

  It was time for me to do something. With sweaty hands, I picked up the discarded Ripple Charger from the downed Scavenger. Making sure it was on its lowest setting, I tried my best not to think about what I was doing as I activated the device in the Scavenger’s back. An ugly, violent kind of crack followed her body hitting the ground like a sack of greymeal.

  Both Kan and the Covienian looked at me in surprise as her form fell away.

  “Evren?” the man exclaimed. I wasn’t sure if it was surprise at my presence, or what I had just done. 

  “In all the warehouses to mess around with, Oli,” I said and spread my hands, “you had to pick this one?”

  Oli Preastigat blinked at me, eyes wrinkled with confusion. “It’s my warehouse!” 

  “You never use it!” I shot back.

  “So?” He looked me up and down, distracted as he saw my bare feet. “Where the hell are your shoes?”

  I looked down. The bandages that Zara had so dutifully wrapped them in this morning were long gone. “I, uh…” I looked back up, seeing Kan eye me in a borderline panicked stare. Questions in her face that she already knew the answer too, and didn’t like. She side-eyed Oli in a sweat, eyes twitching back to me. 

  “Evren, tell him I’m on your side.” A plea, not a question. 

  Smiley laughed, like it had laughed the night Kan had held me against the rail of the warehouse walkway. Now who's pinned and wiggling? Caught like a bug?  I discarded Smiley’s words like I discard the Ripple Charger– with a flick of the wrist and an angry mutter.  I needed to trust Kan. Kan would help keep Lewis safe. That was all that mattered.

  “Oli, you’ve got it wrong.” I hurried to the Mixling, reaching up and pulling the weapon away from her neck. I pushed a confused Oli back, as gently as I could. “She’s not an enemy.” 

  “Last I checked, she was yours,” Oli mused as Kan staggered forward, rubbing her neck. 

  Kan gave Oli Preastigat the most evil of looks I had seen on an organic. “You know Preastigat?” she asked me, eyes infuriated like most people were infuriated when they had been held at gun point, I guessed.

  I gestured to Oli. “I used to work for him. But then he fired me. So I went and worked for Dels, but then I got fired from there, too. And so that’s when Kovals—”

  Kan held up a hand  to stop me. “Alright, I get it. But when you said this warehouse belonged to a friend, I thought you were telling the truth.”

  “That hurts,” Oli commented, but he was looking at Kan like he was waiting for her to attack. “Say, Evren, what are you doing with Lou Koval’s head mechanic, anyway?”

  Kan straightened out her jacket with tight, agitated movements. “None of your business, metal dealer. What are you doing here?” She stooped down painfully to pick up her rifle that had fallen in her struggle. “Let me guess, you heard there was a reward out for a survivor and you’re here to get even more rich?”

  “Again. This is my warehouse.” Oli Prestigat put his Pulser into his waistcoat, shaking his head in disappointment. “Talk about a spot of bad attitude.” He looked over at us, seeming rather old and tired in the dim lantern light. “But I guess you’re right. I wasn’t here for Evren. I was here for Kan.” He gestured to us both, absently. “But now that I see you’re working together, this… this does complicate things a little.”

  I blinked, information taking way longer than it should have to sink into my brain. “Wait a second.” I shut my eyes, waving my hands back and forth. “Wait a second, wait a second– you’re here for Kan?”

  Oli eyed us both, then clicked his tongue. He turned, taking something out of a bag on the ground and throwing it to Kan. They were cuffs. He gestured to the two downed Scavengers.

  “Come on, let’s tie these ones up, and then I think we’re all due for a chat about what’s happening in Upper Lisk right now.”

  Once the Scavengers had been tied up, and Kaes– Oli’s body guard with the glowing eyes– had been propped up against some old mining equipment, Oli Preastigat sat down next to him, placing a bright, expensive lantern on the ground, and started to explain everything.

  “A real flurry– a right big one, too– after Lou Koval’s declared a reward for his head mechanic.” He gestured to Kan, who held her pulse rifle in her lap. Something told me it was primed and ready.

  “All the smaller mechshops are after his favour, mind you, so they’re out looking for Miss Oh’Krean like it’s the devil to pay. Or devil that will pay, or…” he trailed off. “Anyway, I’ve got a chap inside your shop, and he said that good ole’ Kan here stole something before she split.” Oli held up his hands. “I didn’t think much of it until Loose Phantom startled the living salts right out of me on my way home and told me something very strange.”

  “Loose has a last name?” I asked. I realised too late that that wasn’t the point of what he said. “Wait, what did she say?”

  Oli turned to where I sat cross-legged, a nervous Hector clasped protectively in my hands. 

  “That a Mixling had taken a small Geodian down to the the warehouse district to meet with ‘the birds.’”

  I smiled at that. “And then she disappeared, right?”

  Oli nodded, a fraction of the bewildered fear still in his eyes. “Yeah, well, a chap hears that with the knowledge of Kan’s reward and Kovals involvement with Gray Raven, and a chap makes some assumptions about a certain missing piece of…” He hesitated, eyes flicking to Kan. “Astrogate debris.”

  Something clicked in my brain. I groaned internally. “Oh gods, you thought I was the thing Kan stole from Lou, didn’t you?”

  Oli spread his hands. “Look, the old woman’s not a wellspring of information, so I assumed the worst. It wasn’t too far of me to think that the reason he wanted his Head Mechanic back so bad was because she up and nicked the survivor from him. Hence, the reward.”

  Kan had her mouth open. “What— how did you know she was the survivor?”

  Oli looked smug. More smug than he usually was, which I didn’t know was actually possible. “'Cause I’m clever, love.”

  I dismissed his claims with a wave of my bandaged hand, turning to Kan. “My hand came unbandaged. He guessed.”

  As Oli deflated, Kan nodded, still confused but listening. I turned back to Oli.

  “None of this tells us why you tried to grab us.”

  Oli clicked his tongue, looking around his warehouse easily. “Well, I was on my way down to the lower levels when this warehouse got tripped. So we redirected up here to do some of our own investigating and what do we find? An empty warehouse set up for an ambush. Them Scavengers were coming in, and I thought Miss Head Mechanic was about to hand you in." He leant back against the mining equipment, glancing at a snoring Kaes. “But it seems we got it sideways, didn’t we? You were working together, the whole show. No wonder Lou Koval’s lost his salt about this.”

  “Lou–” Kan started, “does he know where we are?” Her voice was hard and urgent compared to Oli’s long-winded explanations.

  Oli tilted his head. “Well, no. See, I went to call on him the first thing just to see where he was at, but he’s gone. His mechanics were loathe to tell me where he was. Fishy business at that place. Everyone was tight and bothered.”

  Kan narrowed her eyes. “Lou’s gone?” This troubled her. A lot. Her dark eyes drifted down to the floor, brows knitted together in thought. She glanced up, looking like she had just realised who she was talking to. “Why were you going to Lou? Were you going to tattle me out?” 

  Oli frowned at her darkly. “I don’t ‘tattle’, love. It’s not nice.”

  The Mixling looked up at the cracking warehouse ceiling, crowing into the darkness. “Oh yeah, very funny, Preastigat, playing the saint to come save the poor survivor from the bad Mixling.” She snapped her gaze back to him. “Always ready to meddle in things that don’t need you there.”

  “I said I don’t tattle,” Oli repeated, firm. 

  Kan’s Tironian ear went back with a scoff. “Oh, really?” The sharp notes of accusation rang out in the empty warehouse like a bell. “Didn’t stop you from ratting out the Cantos Prime shipment last season, now did it? We lost six thousand, thanks to the Rangers you called.”

Oli’s expression darkened. “One shipment is no match for the damage you caused to my eastern warehouse. You think I bought that fire as an accident?” He stood, pure-blooded Covienian height flaunting itself nearly a head above Kan. “We all saw the cables. We knew they had been shorted, and we all knew who did it.” He pointed a finger at Kan. “Lou Koval’s right-hand rat.”

  I swallowed, placing Hector on my shoulder. He hid behind my poncho hood.  “We have other problems, guys. The Scavengers—” But Kan was standing now, too, and she was holding her rifle with whitened knuckles.

  “I’m no one’s rat!” Kan thundered, stepping closer to her accuser. “Kovals doesn’t hold any cards over me. And if it weren’t for you and your meddling fingers, metaldealer, we would have been long gone by now.”

  I stood hesitantly, feeling the air between the two of them get tenser with every word. I cleared my throat. “Speaking of, we should probably—”

  “Why, such resolve!” Oli crowed, ignoring me. “Steal that backbone from one of my warehouses, Oh’Krean?”

  Kan bristled, poking a finger into Oli’s chest. “You wouldn't know a backbone from a stick up your—”

  “Enough!” I pushed the two of them apart, feeling very small in between the two towering Covienians, and very outnumbered. “Look, as I see it, you both came into this warehouse cause you thought it was the right thing to do, right?”

  Oli readjusted his waistcoat with a mutter. “Well, getting the reward on her head was a big motivator.”

  I sighed at him. “No, you said that Loose told you where we were going. You wanted to help.”

  Oli said nothing, hands in his pockets as he surveyed us wordlessly.

  “So noble,” Kan spat, then grabbed my shoulder, turning me away. “Come on, Evren. We’ve wasted enough time on warehouse rodents. We need to find Gray Raven’s lab.”

  “Gray Raven’s labs?” Oli said, and it might have been the first time I’d heard him say anything without feigned emotion in his voice. “You were asking about their labs because you wanted to go there?” Oli looked at me. “Maybe no one’s told you, love, but that piece of debris they’re looking for is you. All day, I’ve been trying–”

  “Did you say labs? Like more than one?” My chest tightened, in fear or anticipation, I didn’t know. “Do you know about them?”

  Oli looked away, folding his arms. “No, no, no, no. I don’t know anything about that. You can keep that kerfuffle on Market Street out of Oli Preastigat’s business, thank you very much.”

  I was at his side, tugging on his arm. “Oli, do you know where they are? Is that where they’re based? Market Street?”

  Oli shook me off his arm, taking a step away. “Girl, people start snooping around their labs, and they go missing.”

  I looked up at the Covienian imploringly, the silence in his face crushing at my ribs. 

  What could I say to make him understand how much Lewis meant to me?

Kan interrupted the silence. 

  “Someone already has gone missing, Preastigat.” She shifted where she leant against the steps of the warehouse. “That’s why we’re doing this.”

  Oli frowned. Kan’s voice was no longer accusatory, but serious. I was thankful that Oli seemed mature enough in the moment to respond in kind. “Who was it?”

  Kan nodded above us. “Tri-Dock 61’s port bot.”

  “Oh, no." Oli looked at me. “Not Lewis?”

  I nodded. Oli had heard me talk of him often. And vice verse. That was the problem: everyone that I knew, Lewis knew, too. “They took him,” I confirmed. “Lou Koval gave him up as my friend. They’ll tear him apart looking for me.”

  Oli looked to be chewing the inside of his cheek, arms crossed and expression grim. “Or worse, they’ll find someone else to question through ‘im,” the Covienian muttered darkly. “Bad business, them Gray Raveners. Bad business.”

  Kan saw his moment of hesitation. “Covien is only going to become a worse place if we don’t find this Bot, and find him fast. Lou will have the backing of an Entrillian Guild if this goes through and Evren is found. Do you think Kovals' will let you use Freelance Merchants to smuggle precious metals out of Flirion when he controls Lower Lisk? The Port? Hell– the Laneway?”

  Oli turned to me. “Then leave. Lou doesn’t find you. Gray Raven dumps Lou. We all hide for a phase or two and it’s done. Easy.”

  “No! No, I won’t leave this way.” My hands found each other, and I wrenched my fingers, trying to distract myself from the burning hole of despair that wanted to well up at any mention of leaving Lewis. “Lewis isn’t some kind of level 2 sentient meant for errands and labour. He was a Servant Bot. Type-C.” I looked between them both, saying words that I didn’t want to remind myself of. “Which means he can feel pain. Means he can hope, if he wants to. It means they made him as organic as they possibly could. Piece by piece, they’ll dismantle him to find a clue. To find me.” I dropped my hands to my side, and Hector chittered against my ear. I got the feeling it was meant to be comforting. 

  Oli took a step closer to me, lowering his voice. “Evren. One thing goes wrong today, and it would be your life for his.” There were no tears in Oli’s face. Of course not– we didn’t know each other well enough for tears. But there was a seriousness that only experience could give– that only grief could sow. “Walking into that lab is like… is like saying yes to their games. It’s a consent to their claim on you. Leave now, and you’re safe.”

  As I stared up at him, craning my neck to look at the middle-aged, impossibly tall, but strangely understanding Covienian, I wondered who he had lost. Because he had lost someone. It was written all over his eyes, his tone, even the air around him. 

  “Has there ever been a moment where someone you cared about was hurt?” I asked, but I already knew the answer. “And if you could change it– go back in time and alter that moment– would you?”

  Oli looked down. The confident metal dealer melted away, paisley waistcoat greying as he turned from the lantern light. I could barely see his nod from the shadow he immersed himself in.

  “I would.” 

    Kan pushed herself off the stairs, drawing Oli’s eyes from the dark. “Tell us what you know of Gray Raven, and there’s one less nightmare on Covien.” 

  Oli tapped his fingers on his arm, thinking as he looked at Kan, wordlessly weighing her in his mind. Something had changed on his face. At first, it looked more like regret, but upon closer inspection, it was weariness. He turned to the old mining equipment– pieces of cranes, discarded and rusting– once so efficient, now in dank disrepair. 

  “I thought you’d go down to your grave for Lou.” Oli’s comment was soft, almost lost in the dark. 

  Kan was still for a minute. “I did.” 

Oli turned to look at her, and she held up her shirt where the bandage covered the gash in her side . “Then he sent a Scavenger to kill me when I went against what he told me to do.” 

  She put down her shirt, readjusting the strap to her rifle. 

  “He actually tried to kill you?” 

  The affirming silence was broken by Oli’s breath blown out of his lungs in a rush of disbelief. “Oh. That’s a… that’s a tad surprising.” 

  He flicked his gaze to where the two Scavengers drooled into the concrete, hands tied and legs bound. He eyed Kan and me for a moment before coming to a decision.

  “I don’t know where the labs are exactly, but I know someone who does.” Oli pulled out a small knife from another pocket in his waist coat and went to a Scavenger. For a terrible moment, I thought he was going to stab the unconscious man, but Oli merely sliced through his bonds.

  “And where we’re going, you two will need to blend in.” He pocketed his knife, eyeing the Scavengers warily. “I don’t think these chaps will be needing their clothes, do you?”

  I smiled at him, some of the tension in my chest leaving as he looked at me, paused, then nodded.

  Gray Raven’s labs. Lewis. Hangar 42. Oli would help me find Lewis, and that meant I had a chance to do what I needed to do before I left Covien forever. 

  Oli’s eyes found my bare feet. He flicked his gaze the nearest Scavenger.

  “Come to think of it, I don’t think this one needs his boots, either.”

 “Aren’t we supposed to be going somewhere dark and creepy?” I asked through the Scavenger’s scarf around my face. “Like a lair, or a weird bar or something?”

  Kan shifted beside me, watching the thick crowd pass us like slow moving tar. “Oli said he’s got a contact here,” she said, voice muffled from under her own Scavenger face covering. “Don’t let the hawkers and colours deceive you, kid, if there was ever a place that would lead somewhere creepy, it’s Market Street.”

  Little wisps of dark red hair escaped her hood and face covering, reminding me of someone else for just a heartbeat. I could only see her eyes with her Scavenger garb, and they were busy scanning every person that absently brushed past us like they were sent by Gray Raven to track us down. 

  Hector chittered from his place atop my crate, and I looked down at him, readjusting the box in my arms. “What do you think about Market Street?” I asked him. 

  Hector appeared appalled. He flapped his wings, which I took as a negative opinion of the busy, nauseating section of Lisk. 

  “Me, too,” I agreed. “Everyone always tried to chase me away with a broom.” 

  Hector chittered in solidarity. Apparently, he had experienced this, too. 

  I wondered what Loose was thinking when she sent him with us, but then I remembered that she also believed that the old mine air was full of a fungal poison created by a void god that could reanimate the dead, and I realized Loose didn’t actually need a reason to do anything. Besides, the bug was strangely good company. 

  I looked down at my feet, wondering how far I would have gotten on this mission by myself. I wiggled my toes back and forth under my new stolen footwear, glad Oli had suggested I steal them. Me and the Scavenger? We were not the same size, but these ones were adjustable, so at least they felt better than my old ones. Maybe in another life, I would feel bad for stealing them, but…not this one. I was pretty ecstatic about having shoes again. 

  Kan turned to the eatery we waited outside of. Music blossomed from inside like the bright, vivid flowers painted on the two yellow doors. Kan’s dark features were a funny contrast to the cheerful exterior. “Why the hell is he taking so long? It’s been over fifteen minutes.” She turned back to the street, scanning it again with a mutter. “We can’t stay here forever.” 

  I readjusted my hold on my crate, trying to shrug and look casual. “I’m sure he’s just trying to convince his contact that we’re trustworthy. Remember, he didn’t even want Keas here.” 

  The intimidating bodyguard had been sent away when he woke up, presumably back to Oli’s parlor. Oli had explained that his contact was suspicious, and Kaes looked extremely suspicious, so I guess that checked out…

  Kan shook her head. “It’s not us I’m worried about.”

  I looked up sideways at her, a little perturbed she was still questioning Oli. “I trust him to make the right decision, Kan.”

  Kan turned, regarding me. “Do you?” She looked away, lowering her voice. “You said you trusted me, but you still keep watching me. And it's the same with Oli. You say he’ll make the right decision, but you keep looking at the door, too.” She shook her head. “ It’s just… Isn’t it exhausting? Believing in everyone and being paranoid about them at the same time? We could potentially be in the hands of an enemy, but you’re pretending we’re not.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but I was speechless. Was what she was saying true? “I’m not paranoid,” I protested after a moment.

  “You’re mistrustful,” Kan said, “which is probably why you’ve survived here so long. And yes, you do a good job pretending not to be, but you can’t deny that you’ve had one eye on me for the past hour and one on the closest exit.” 

  I faltered. If Kan was offended I didn’t trust her, she’d leave. And I couldn’t have that. I scoffed, going to explain like she’d misunderstood. “It’s not being paranoid. I’m just observant, and I keep an eye on everyone I meet no matter how much I trust them…” I stopped myself, thinking about what I said. “Oh, hang on a second–” 

  Hector chittered beratingly, and I looked at Kan. 

  “That’s… being mistrustful, isn't it?”

  “What’s mistrustful?” Oil said behind us.

  We turned to where Oli Perastigat stood outside the large, humming eatery, leaning against a sidewalk table only a few spans away. The orange light from the windows reflected the little streaks of grey in his hair as he searched the crowd. The look wasn’t fearful, but I frowned at the action. According to Kan, wasn’t I supposed to be the paranoid one?

  “There you are,” Kan hissed loudly at the metal dealer, coming closer. “What took so long?”

  Oli Preastigat looked at her, one eyebrow raised. “Have a little patience, love.” He gestured through the air before returning his hands to his pockets. “When you don’t have the brute force of Lou Koval behind your name, these operations require a little delicacy.”

  Kan released a pent up breath, coming to stand next to him. “Maybe delicacy isn’t something we can afford right now.”

  Oli held her gaze. It was devoid of the usual mockery that I had seen him use on Kan. “I think we do, Oh’Krean. Yessenia Istrati is not a businesswoman to be rushed.” He rubbed his arm, looking away with a distracted mutter. “Or trifled with.”

  “‘Yessenia?’” Kan echoed the long name like it was uncomfortable to say.

  “Not everyone born on Covien has to shorten their name,” Oli reminded.

 “That is disrespectful, Preastigat," Kan rebuked, seeming weirdly more upset than when she had been stabbed. “If you don’t know her well, you shouldn’t use it.”

  “You’re very concerned about the old ways, aren’t you, Kan?” Oli regarded her, as if in a new light. “Everyone says you shed that skin years ago, but perhaps they’re wrong, hm?”

  Kan said nothing. Just stared at Oli darkly.

  I wanted to ask what he meant, but Oli suddenly straightened and signalled for us to be quiet. Wordlessly, Kan and I moved to stand behind him, eagerly waiting as a tall, charcoal-skinned Flirin glided through the yellow doors to where we waited.

  She was short compared to native Covienians, but technically, everyone was. With dark clothing, the bright red feathers she had clipped into her black hair seemed to pop out from the charcoal coloured Flirin like spark-works.

  She didn’t smile at Oli as she came close. She joined the table, leaning against it and scanning the street past her noble, hooked nose.

  “Yessenia Istrati,” Oli greeted formally with a Covienian sign of respect, crossing his two dominant fingers and pulling them away from his body. “To meet us in such a short notice is muchly appreciated, Heri.”

  Her eyes found Oli’s. Then they found me. Hector hid. I swallowed.

  All Flirins' eyes were a bright teal. Set inside their dark, angular faces, it was piercing– but this woman’s especially.

  “You’re the kid who wants an in to the Gray Ravener’s labs?” she asked, voice gravelly with years and probably a good deal of smoking, judging how she smelt— sweet and warm, like the spices the Flirins would smoke on break at Kovals'.

  I nodded. “Yes, Heri.”

  Istrati pressed her hands lightly on the table, studying each of us again before looking back at me.

  “What you seek is behind doors. Old doors that have been long since sealed.” She nodded behind her. “There is a power that runs through the entirety of Lisk. Everything that takes power must be connected to it.”

  Kan was staring at Yessenia. “What kind of doors?”

  The woman retrieved something from the folds of her long dress, pushing it over the table to me.

  I looked at the box she had placed there, opening it. It was a hexagonal disk, with a serrated edge like bronze teeth. I saw an inscription and a serial number on its side, but nothing to indicate where it went to.

  “A Scelirian access key?” Kan queried, taking the box from me. “This… can’t be real.”

  I gave her a sidelong look as she scrutinised it. Well, is it?

  Kan hesitated, then gave me a nod. It was.

  Oli took it from her, sliding it into one of his many waistcoat pockets. “I’ll tell them the rest on the way.” He nodded to Yessenia, turning to leave with a brief farewell. “Istrati.”

  “Preastigat,” Yessenia said calmly, and he paused.

  “You tell a soul where you got that from, and I’ll see to it that each one of those gold teeth are removed. With chopsticks.”

  Oli inclined his head. “Your Flirin charm warms my heart, as always.” But even after he said it, I could see him run his tongue over his teeth in something like concern.

  After giving one more glare to Oli, and a suspicious look to Kan and me, Yessenia Istrati was gone, the glowing eatery absorbing her behind the two cheerful yellow doors painted with sunflowers, that now, given the demeanour of their patroness, seemed strangely sadistic.

  Oli turned to us, spreading his hands. “Told you she’d come through.” He pulled out a shiny timepiece out of his waistcoat, checked the time, and then paled a little. He saw me staring at him, and laughed. “My, I was in there for longer than I thought. We should get going.” Before I could comment, he was past us, nodding his head down the lane. “Come on, then. Come on.”

  I followed him down the street, brushing past people on their way home from shift. “I don’t get it,” I said, finally catching up with his hilariously long strides. “How does a key get us closer to finding Gray Raven?”

  On the other side of Oli, Kan looked to have the same question. It came out in a different way, though. She scowled at Oli. “What did she tell you?”

  We walked down a more populated part of the street, so it wasn’t until we had some relative privacy that Oli answered, looking behind him. I wished I knew what he was checking for.

  “Yessenia told me where to find the labs. We can’t talk here. Just keep moving and don’t stop.”

  Oli turned down the far side of Market level and into a tunnel that had a gradual incline. I saw him pull out his timepiece again, putting it away before he thought Kan could see him.

  Finally, when we were no longer in the vicinity of other people, Oli started to explain, words as rapid and steep as the tunnel. “On paper, Gray Raven doesn’t have a lab here— but everyone knows that’s a lie.” Every ten metres, we would pass another classic neon yellow street light, and it illuminated the grim look on Oli’s face.  “A few years back, I got to talking to someone who worked at the Power Department for Lisk— one of Yessenia’s ‘seasonal employees.’” We passed another light. “They said about a quarter of our power drains up to Market Street every time Gray Raven does a debris collection after an Astrostorm. Got me thinking about who could be up there.”

  “Why would they need that much power?” Kan asked, looking up as huge red cables passed us overhead and sped back towards the Market level. Somehow, Hector was on her head, again. 

  My legs started to ache. I was practically running, compared to the two Covieniens.

  “No idea. And I don’t want to know.” Oli clicked his fingers as we  quickly passed another light. “But Istrati’s contact says there’s a way you can get to the labs through Lisk’s main powershaft. For some reason, Gray Raven uses a lot of electricity, so they have to be close to Lisk’s main line— just a smack away from it-”

  Oli stopped. Mainly because Kan had grabbed his arm and made him.

  “The powershaft?” Kan echoed. I came to stand behind her, not much liking the panic in her tone. “You’re taking us to Lisk’s powershaft? That is the most, if not the only, regulated part of Lisk. No one is allowed in there!” Kan released his arm. “The powershaft runs down to some of Covien’s oldest mines, and the power department still  have to use labour bots because of the air. No organic has been inside there for about a hundred years, and for a good reason. This isn’t a solution. What in Ethreal were you thinking?”

  Oli blinked. If I didn’t know him better, I would have sworn he was confused, but underneath, I saw a familiar glint of the gears turning in Oli Preastigat’s head.

  “The air is old, not dangerous.” Oli didn’t move or shift. He was keeping as still as he could. “And this was the only way we got what we wanted.”

  “Oli,” I said, voicing my true concern. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m helping you.” Oli’s face was expressionless. Something twisted in my gut. I had never seen it that way. “Because you trust me.”

  Kan glowered at him. “Really? Because it sounds like you're sending us into one of Lisk’s sealed-off shafts to die.”

  Oli looked at me, slowly taking the access disk from his waistcoat. I started to wonder just how many pockets he had. “If I had had the time to change this, I would have.”

  He nodded for me to hold out my hand for the disk. 

When I went to take it, Oli grabbed my wrist, pulling me close to whisper in my ear.

  “I lied to Lev Koval. The night you needed to be hidden. It’s how he knew. It’s how they found me.” He slipped something else into the grey bag around my shoulders with a soft whisper. “Be safe out there, Evren.”

  When Oli pulled back, I saw the sadness that usually hid behind his smile spread to every corner of his face. 

Shadows started to move at the tunnel mouth behind him.

  He shoved Kan back, grabbing the barrel of her rifle.

“You need to shoot me,” he pleaded in a whisper. “They’ll think you suspected me and we’ll both live. Use the key. Get out of here.”

  Kan ripped it from his grasp, confused, and angry, and torn because she had heard what Oli said, as well. “Preastigat…” 

  Like they had sprouted from the darkness of the tunnel itself, Scavengers emerged from shadows, closer than ever. 

  “Get them!” Oli shouted, stepping backwards as if in fear, but he was pleading something else with his eyes, looking at Kan. “This is the only way we both live!" He tried to laugh. Weakly. “Come on, don’t tell me you don’t want to.

  A feeling like bile started to rise in my throat, my gut, even my head. I felt cold, and sick. I wanted to pull Kan’s gun away. To stop everything. But the Scavengers advanced down the tunnel– silently and precisely. No, no, no. How did they find him? How did I let this happen?

  I froze, eyes drawn to the mouth of the tunnel as a lone figure stood there. No. Not a someone. A something.  A staff in its left hand. Two glowing eyes where a face should have been. It looked like it was made from the night sky, black and terrible, terrible, terrible—

  Oli was shouting; so were the Scavengers as they ran down the tunnel, harsh commands in a tongue I couldn't understand. Was it Plains-speak, or could I just not make sense of it? Something tried to shoot Kan– she dodged, shoving me out of the shot's path. 

  I stumbled, and sound rushed in as reality slapped me back into my thoughts. 

  “Now!” Oli shouted. But to who? Kan? Or the Scavengers? He was backing away, eyes still pleading.

  Kan raised her rifle to his left leg, and pulled the trigger. The shot knocked him back, but I didn’t get to see where it landed.

  “Get back,” Kan fumed at the advancing Scavengers, grabbing my arm and pulling me further into the darkness.

  The creature at the mouth of the tunnel moved. I could feel it approach even with my back towards it. It did not run. It did not rush. It took one step, then another, and I knew it wouldn’t stop until it had me. 

  Gray Raven. It was Gray Raven. 

“Damn your salt, they’re getting away!” Oli hollered at the masked Scavengers pursuing us, his voice dark with pain. 

  Was that an act, too? 

   “Get them!”

  The end of the tunnel was a door, shrouded in dark except for a yellow glowing indicator panel. I had never seen any door in Lisk so reinforced before. Bars of every kind cross-crissed to make a huge pie of locks and bolts. I stared at it, overwhelmed. There was no way we were getting past that.

  “The key!” Kan thundered in my ear. I had forgotten it was in my hand. I fumbled numbly, holding it up. 

  Kan grabbed it, sliding it across the panel– it screeched a command as warning lights bathed the tunnel into psychedelic purple. A heartbeat later, the bolts retracted, scarily fast. Faster than any door had business opening. The pie opened, and revealed a black as thick as pitch on the other side. 

 Grabbing a fistfull of my poncho, Kan dragged me through, slamming a bright orange lever down on the other side. 

  I nearly lost hold of her. I was losing hold of everything, even my crate. My fingers slipped over the cool material of the rugged box, and it flew from my grasp.

   “No!” The scream was torn from my throat as I watched the door slam back into place, splintering the crate into a thousand shards of polyplast.

  Locks shattered the silence as the Liskian powershaft resealed, separating us from everything and everyone outside, and sending the world into a static, numbing dark.