Humanity in the Deep

The council agreed, although some were uneasy.

Roger was almost as hungry as he was tired. Kyle had offered to make lunch and Roger had invited Adrian.

He was exhausted but happy when he reached Kyle’s door. It felt good to be making some progress, at least.

“Ah, successful, I see. Good, come on in.” Kyle practically pulled Roger in by his shoulder into the room.

“You don’t even know what we talked about. Or does your training include mind reading?” he said as he saw Adrian raise an eyebrow.

“Please, I raised her,” Kyle gestured at Nadica, who was floating next to the ceiling. “No training on reading people will be as comprehensive as that.”

“It will only be a day or so until we announce it,” Adrian said as Kyle handed him a sandwich.

Finishing the first half, Adrian asked, “The meat is good, you do this with algae stock?”

Kyle gave a bow with a slight flourish.

As the four of them ate, Roger realized how much he missed just having simple meals together.

During a lull Nadica looked up, or down from his point of view and asked, “Is Kat going to make it back?”

Adrian looked her straight in the eyes and said, “I don’t know. I’ve gone over the local raid more times than I can count, and I do know she handles combat well, better than many of the people I served with. She is smart, as I am sure you know. The fact that they managed to get away from their captors and send us a signal speaks volumes. I think there’s a good chance we will be able to get them back, but I’m sorry, I can’t promise anything.”

---

One of the things Roger used to say was that there was beauty in everything. He said that seeing that was what separated someone who could paint from a Painter.

Kat would give anything to know where the beauty was in the unincorporated city.

“Hope you live to give me more money, sweet tits.” The local said from behind a counter, Kat ignored him and watched as Isaac was handed the pack full of water and food.

They left the stall and Kat threaded her way through the crowd, keeping her clothes tight around herself. She would really rather people not notice her skin color.

Everyone they passed as they left was armed, at least it meant they did not stand out.

They were damned lucky that Tyra’s guards had bags full of coins on them. For that matter, they were lucky everyone was so paranoid that no one wanted to speak long. The translator would never have been good enough if too much small talk was required.

What was left of the city gave the impression of being tired, of being used and reused so often that nothing could ever be done to fix it. Kat was starting to feel the same way.

Isaac was walking ahead, clutching his gun with both hands. He walked stiffly with his gun held so tight.

Among the rubble ahead of them was another of the weird black dodecahedrons, perfectly formed and eerily black with scratches on it. They had seen dozens of them throughout the city. She ignored them on the idea that if the locals didn’t care about them, she didn’t either.

When they approached the halfway mark, she said, “Rifle down,” as she gently pushed it down. They were about to come into view of what she had been calling the compound.

The compound looked more than a large city block square and had a five-meter-tall, one-meter-thick surrounding it. There always were well armed guards on top.

She and Bruce had spent hours trying to figure out what they were doing. The best theory was that they made weapons or something valuable and were in the unincorporated city so they could work for themselves.

She was surprised when she saw a dozen heavily armored men and women walking down the street surrounding children.

The children were sorry-looking. Half looked malnourished, and they all looked miserable. It was one of the most heartbreaking things Kat had ever seen. A small part of her wanted to rescue them.

She had to keep walking along though and do nothing. Even stopping might be interpreted as hostile by those on the wall. Given that even the semblance of law was gone from the unincorporated city, there would be nothing to stop the guards from shooting them.

The children were almost to the large doors that led into the compound when one of the older ones collapsed and screamed.

One of the men handed his gun to another and went to the boy who had fallen. Kat stopped walking as she feared the worst, but then he did the last thing she expected. He hugged the boy.

They stayed like that for at least a minute, him holding the boy as he cried. He then picked the boy up and carried him the rest of the way.

Kat wouldn’t have been more surprised if they had broken out in dance.

---

Another aircraft buzzed the city. It sounded loud and angry and was far from the first she had heard over the last several days.

She put the translator in her ear and played the last message from Roger again. She could only send text, but she was grateful that the Erikson could send full video.

He was in free fall and had been for a while from the look of his cheeks. He was tired and looked like he needed to sleep for a week.

He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

“......Two years ago, I didn’t know your name. Now, you’re the most important person in my life.” He paused. “I don’t think I ever told you how I was before the Erikson. I was... not a happy person. I don’t think I would have made it to thirty if I had stayed on New Europe. When I feel weak or think of giving up, I think of you; your strength and your endless energy. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I know you’re strong and that you will make it through. I love you and I will see you again.

“P.S. Please bring some meat, I think I might start turning green if I eat any more algae.”

She thought of her father. One of her most treasured memories of him was when she was ten or so and asked about a picture of him when he was a teenager. It was taken when he had been in a holding cell.

He bounced her on his lap and said, “I was a different man. Love, real love, changes you. It makes you want to grow and be better today than you were yesterday. Growing and changing is the hardest thing you can do. But for real love? You’ll do it easily and gladly. That’s how you know a man is right for you, Katrina, if someone changes for you, if he grows and becomes a better man today than he was yesterday.”

She didn’t know why she remembered it so clearly. At the time, she didn’t really understand it. When she heard Roger’s message, she finally understood what her father meant. It was hard to believe the awkward man she had met on the Hermes was a councilor. He was brave, and he would move heaven and earth to save her.

That first night he had slept with her was hard for him. She had felt him tremble, but she had needed him, so he was there for her.

They would see each other again.

Kat hoped that the person she was changing into was someone he could still love. The girl he had married hadn’t killed anyone.

She didn’t watch the rest of the message; it was enough just to listen to his voice and to know that all her family was okay.

It was the first time in a few days that they and the Erikson were facing the right direction during the night to transmit so she started to setup the radio.

They had only risked transmitting twice, including the first messages.

Making sure the radio had a clear line of sight, she waited. The tiny dish turned slightly, and the wrist comp reported that it was receiving.

The wrist comp said the signal strength was low, then blinked to none. She checked to make sure it was the right time.

It was. They did get the message, but it took ten times as long as it should have. When they had a copy of the whole thing, she pulled it up and saw the header: “Warning, massive search underway. Do not transmit! Repeat do not transmit!”

---

Bruce asked while looking at Jacklyn, “How long will our supplies last?”

She said, “A week, maybe a bit more.”

Kat asked, “Can we safely stretch the food and water?” As an officer, she had the most medical training. They were running out of money too, but they still had enough for one or two more trips.

“A day or two at most, water’s the real problem.”

Isaac said, “Maybe it’ll rain.”

“It hasn’t yet,” Jacklyn replied.

They had hardly seen any clouds, let alone rain.

Isaac said, “Maybe it’s not that bad. I mean, no one really controls the city, right? So we can just be careful and just get what we need, right?”

He looked into Kat’s eyes when he was talking, like he was hoping to see something there.

Bruce said, “No, buying supplies is not an option anymore. I have no idea why it has taken this long but there is no chance that they will not let it be known they’re after us. These people are sociopaths, after all. They would not stay bought, even if we had enough to bribe them.”

He slumped against the wall and added, “I only see one option, and it’s a bad one. Ambush groups leaving the markets. Take what we need.”

Jacklyn said, “They won’t suspect something? Think it’s just a bit too coincidental?”

Kat said, “From the way everyone acts, I doubt it would be strange.”

Bruce said, “You don’t go around that heavily armed everywhere unless you have a reason. The problem is I don’t like our chances. Even besides the fact it would mean murder.”

“So we get help,” Jacklyn said with a smile that was practically from ear to ear.

“The Erikson is kind of faraway, Jackie,” Isaac said with a low voice.

“The people in the compound. You said you saw one hug the kid, right? A sociopath wouldn’t do that.”

Bruce said, “Maybe they just learned, or for that matter, remembered. From what the Erikson said, they aren’t born that way. It could have just been that one man for all we know.”

Kat stood up quickly and said, “He cared about that boy. Do you think any of those assholes,” she pointed in the general direction they had escaped from, “would have even tried? Tyra had problems even understanding the concept of empathy. I doubt he could have faked caring if his life depended on it.

“As far as it being just one man? I don’t think so, I don’t think they would trust anyone not like them long enough to have a gun. I saw how they all stopped. Do you think Tyra would have stopped to let a kid be hugged?”

To that, no one had a response.

Bruce asked the group, “Anyone have a better idea?”

Isaac said, “They could be working for Tyra’s bosses, not being a sociopath does not mean they are good people.”

Bruce said, “They’re spending a lot of time and effort to protect themselves here. From what the slaves said, that means they’re probably working for themselves. They may sell to the leaders of the other cities, but they don’t work for them. That’s the point of setting up shop here, after all.

“They might be open to what we have to offer,” Bruce said hopefully.

Kat spent several minutes looking them in the eyes then said, “I’ll go when its dark then.”

Bruce said, “I’ll go.”

She held up her hand started and counted the points off on her fingers, “I know these streets. You don’t. I’ve dealt with these people at the market, and I know how to use the translator in the field. My skin will also make it easier to convince them I am who I say I am.”

Thinking about what they had done before Corwin died, she said. “You all have important technical skills, I don’t. We’ve given them enough technology. I am the least important of us to them.”

She had failed so many people; she saw a good man die to get them to safety. If it took her life to see them home, that’s what she would give.