Hearts and Stones (Celta HeartMate) Page 5

  She frowned. The most important ... most intense and heaviest feeling came from mid-ship, several stories above the wide entrance doors. A phrase about ships floated to her mind, Captain’s Quarters. Yes, several tiny rooms with thinner inner walls between them.

  The nose had one large room … for the pilot? But others with bunks. The ship contained fewer long dormitory rooms than Levona would have thought, more little rooms on each side of the main hallway. Because people liked privacy? She thought so.

  Interesting, though.

  Here! Pizi said, and held a paw to a circular door hole with a cracked-open portal. Levona put her hand on the part that swung in, no hinges on the outside, only on the inside. By the time she stepped to the far side of the door, Pizi had disappeared. Long, long up, but fun! And, I think, lots of nice smells along the way!

  A tube climbed at about a forty-five-degree angle, with staggered openings on each level, and rough hand-holds-foot-holds along the way. Pizi hopped up, and with narrowed eyes, Levona thought she saw the cat use psi power for a boost. Feeling stronger and safer, Levona created and sent a glow light before her little friend. Levona tilted her head and studied her cat … and the flow of the atmosphere around them. Yeah, Pizi pulled extra psi energy from the atmosphere and used it. Amazing.

  They climbed a long time, up sixteen levels, and each time they passed a portal, Levona pressed her hand against it and sent a whisper of her own psi down the space. She confirmed what she thought, the configuration of the halls, little rooms and gathering rooms matched exactly from one level to the next … except for four floors on the opposite side of the ship. A huge space full of … dirt … and the beginnings of growing things?

  Another idea she’d never considered with regard to the ship. Of course they’d need to have … crops? Maybe a park, even?

  The idea occupied her mind until Pizi stopped and slunk through the opening of another metal portal. Levona widened it and did the same, followed the dust trail of her cat for a handful of meters, smothering sneezes on her arm from the rising dust, and another scent of … other lands, she supposed.

  Finally they stopped at a bulb of no walls and more girders.

  Our nest. We can stay here, and near the other peoples, too!

  That rang an alarm in Levona’s brain, but also intrigued. Straining, she tried to sense people moving through the vehicle, and she could! No doubt her psi-gift got a boost from being in a high-psi environment, like Pizi’s had.

  Pizi helped Levona make their “nest,” pushing rags into heaps while Leona muttered spells with her fading energy to clean the space as best she could.

  Then she pulled out all of her clothes and the thin special-tech camping blanket that would keep them warm, if not cushion them. But as she lay down, she realized the temperature of the ship had been steady and comfortable. Her mind finally slowed enough to allow more sensory stimulation – for her to miss the freshening breeze of the mountains, the thin high-altitude air, fresher than city air, the rustlings of other life around her. No bugs or beasts below or above her, here.

  It felt … odd … sleeping in a metal construct, like a city building far above the ground, especially since she’d been living outside the city for two years, moving from campsite to hut to old park cabins that one wealthy guy or another had been given by the gov. Usually the rich spent little time on one of their many estates, so the outbuildings or former visitor centers provided good shelter for Levona.

  Shutting her eyes, she began to breathe deeply, a childhood trick to lure sleep, despite the strangeness of her new spot. Pizi snuggled against her and soon slumber took her away.

  The next morning, Levona snuck into one of the rooms on the floor below to use the tiny toilet and sink. This single room with toilet-shower bump would be hard to live in for the rest of her life … very hard, but she was determined.

  She wondered if the rest of the crew had seen their living space.

  As she walked back to their nest, she became aware of … others.

  Voices didn’t quite “echo” through the ship, but both Levona and Pizi could tell when one person spoke to another, and definitely when the leaders gathered. She deduced about ten people currently lived on the ship. Levona left Pizi in their nest and walked along the wall until she found the conference room. She stood a minute before rationalizing that she must listen in because she needed to know everything now since she’d missed so much.

  She learned that some of the mutant leaders — of all the ships — had prices on their heads from the mobs, the True Religionists, and the gov, which kept the top leadership tense. So far Lugh’s Spear housed only one pilot, Netra Sunaya Hoku, but two more should be coming.

  The meeting broke up and Levona was beginning to explore one level below in detail when Pizi found her.

  Peoples are outside with many big crates and putting foods and drinks here in My Ship! Levona changed her clothes to the more battered ones. She also arranged her hair differently and tinted a streak of purple in it — something that mutant-freaks rarely did because who wanted to call attention to themselves? — and slipped out of the ship while no one watched to become one of the workforce. She kept her psi-gifts locked down and shielded as she carried boxes from trucks to a staging area up a ramp and into a bay that held what appeared to be scientific instruments.

  Psi-mutant guards watched the trucks, and one of the leaders, a tall, thin woman with dark skin, opened some of the boxes to check the food and taste it.

  Her intimidating manner made the drivers and people delivering the food nervous, and Levona figured the woman intended that result, so the psi-folk wouldn’t get cheated. After all, the colonists wouldn’t be here on Earth to complain to the suppliers, would they?

  So the delivery guys thought Levona worked for the ship, belonged to the barrio, and the psi-mutant freaks thought she’d come with the trucks.

  Pizi took off to see the cats, and visit them in their new homes, and came back now and then to “supervise.” The ship folk noted her — how could they not with Pizi mentally shouting? Most of the psis could hear her telepathically — but didn’t associate her with Levona.

  Levona also saw a group of psi mutant Geek Class techs march under Lugh’s Spear to fix the tear she and Pizi had used to sneak into the ship. Since they took hours she figured they were doing an excellent job. Her and Pizi’s escape route was gone.

  Trucks kept coming and coming, and so did barrio guards, especially after one of the drivers had run at them with a knife, shouting, “Death to the mutants!” He’d been wrestled down, his truck stripped immediately of the provisions, those thoroughly checked, and he and his off-loaders escorted off the ghetto lands asap.

  It made everyone nervous, and Levona figured they all believed the launch date just got moved up before the gov could whip up a mob against them, or the True Religionists got drunk enough to storm the gates, or the gov ordered the military in.

  Levona and Pizi ate a late lunch off-site, strolling the neighborhoods for, she hoped, the last time.

  After finishing the afternoon shift, Levona hid behind a panel in the storage area while the last truck left. Then she and Pizi snuck back to their nest. They ate dinner packets Levona had purchased and while Pizi explored inside some more, Levona kept her senses sharp. Sure enough, an hour and a half later, the leaders living on the ship convened another meeting.

  This time Pizi came with Levona as she huddled behind the main conference room wall to eavesdrop. A jumble of people talked over each other before a sharp female tone stated, “Speaking of the cryonic tubes, they’ve been retro-fitted for this older ship, and we don’t know if they will work.”

  “Couldn’t we depend on the trials from the other ships, Nuada’s Sword and Arianrhod’s Wheel? The systems remain standard, though theirs are newer,” a softer-spoken woman said.

  “We could,” said a male sarcastically, “if the other colonists had done testing of the life-sustaining systems of the cryonics, the ‘freezing’
and ‘awakening.’ But they haven’t. NJNY is lagging behind outfitting the ship because of the pressure of the mobs and, unlike us, their crew is not entirely psi mutants. As for EurAstates, we all have agreed they will have the easiest time of getting away and are on a slower schedule to get their systems in place.”

  “Which means since we’re the ones ready to do the trials on the cryonics now, we’ll be the first,” an accented male voice said in a clipped tone. “We’ve already heard all the pros and cons of testing whether our cryogenics system will freeze, and more importantly, preserve a person to be revived later. Whether we will live through the process. Our arguments have become circular. No one wants to volunteer for the experiments. I understand that and accept it, but believe there is no point in continuing to discuss minutiae of this situation for hours. With the exception of Pilot Hoku, our skills are replaceable.”

  “I wouldn’t say that, Clague,” said the rich voice of the one she knew to be the pilot. “You’re our trouble-shooter. If something goes wrong, you’ll be around to be upgraded to Captain to fix it, like Kelse Bountry of NJNY in Nuada’s Sword.”

  A murmur or agreement.

  “Ah, those of us who have led a mutant rebel cell. In that instance, I think you need to listen to me. Further argument is futile, we need to test the cryonic system immediately. It is a vital process that demands time and precision. Problem-solver or not, if we get into trouble, I must be around to be awakened to address any issue. So we must know the freezing and reviving works. I suggest we draw lots.”

  That had silence writhing behind the wall, then a burst of noisy irritated voices bordering on anger.

  Pizi scrunched up her face, rotating her ears. Her mental stream sounded shocked and trailed such emotion behind it. THEY is mad at each other! They shouldn’t be mad at each other!

  That surprised and disappointed Levona, too.

  “What’s that? Who’s there?” the sharp tone snapped from a woman. “Behind the walls, two of them, gov spies!” Her voice rose to a screech. Levona could sense the focused point of her finger aimed at her and Pizi.

  Levona closed her eyes, she and Pizi hadn’t been wary enough. She wasn’t used to being in an adversarial position with psi-gifted people. Usually mutant folk could be trusted, especially those with “good” vibes like those who stayed in the barrio and beyond the city wall. She hadn’t shielded herself or Pizi. Stupid mistake.

  WE IS *NOT* SPIES. WE IS *CREW*, Pizi shouted mentally.

  “I heard her!” the soft-voiced woman said, and she had an accent like the one called Clague.

  “Me, too!” spit out … everyone else, Levona figured.

  Pilot Hoku shouted — and since Levona barely heard him, she realized she’d been listening more with her psi power than her ears — “We will meet you in the main corridor … crew.”

  WE WILL BE THERE! Pizi returned.

  We will meet you there, sirs and mizzes, Levona sent telepathically, letting them hear the clear projection of her words, an indication of the strength of her gift. Not many people could project telepathy well. Maybe that would count for something. But dread invaded her bones.

  A half-hour later she sat, spine straight, in the room she’d been eavesdropping on, awaiting questions. Most of the time the ten other psi-mutants exclaimed over Pizi, having her speak to them as a group and individually on private channels. Pizi always included Levona on those, though she didn’t think the others realized that fact. The psi-mutant resistance leaders encouraged Pizi to prattle on about anything and everything, particularly her life with Levona in the mountains.

  The physician-Healer, the soft-spoken wife of Umar Clague — he in his late thirties and her only a few years older than Levona — checked Pizi out from top to toe. The Healer paid special attention to Pizi’s eyes, and murmured that excellent eye healing herbs lay stocked in the medical storage room.

  Yes, Pizi fascinated everyone. Levona got the impression that if they could ditch her and keep Pizi, everyone would be happier.

  An attractive man nearing middle-age and at the height of his power began her … questioning — the pilot, Netra Sunaya Hoku. But the others pressed for the man of stiff military bearing, the trouble-shooter, to interrogate her. And their psi-gifts buzzed around her, tingling her skin as they gauged her truthfulness, probed into her emotions.

  Levona answered every question in crisp detail as they requested, all too aware of her lower-to-middle-class upbringing, the fact that she’d taken off on her own to the mountains instead of working with the psi-mutant community, and that she sat with raggedy hair in shabby clothes with the fragrance of sweat and the underscent of muddy ditch water rising from them.

  They discussed the breach that only skinny young people could wriggle through and which had been fixed that day. Levona closed her eyes enough to visualize any other tiny stress cracks in the vehicle and broadcast that information to everyone so they could work on those, too. She hoped that would demonstrate her cooperation …

  Finally Pizi protested that she needed food and her wonderful heart friend, Levona, must also. At that point, the black woman who’d handled the provisions delivery earlier — also showing a military bearing — left. She returned with a nice steaming heap of beef and greens on a plate for Pizi, and a small hot hand pastry of standard meat-like and cheese-like substance for Levona. No one else ate.

  Probably because breaking bread still held connotations of hospitality and courtesy.

  “I recognize you,” the black woman said. “You worked all day unloading provisions.” She paused, swept a glance over the other nine. “And she stood with me during the attack.” A wintry smile. “I didn’t need her help, but I believe she’d have entered the fray on my side, if necessary.” She held out a hand. “Megan Dufort.”

  Levona took her hand and shook it. “Levona Martinez.”

  “I know.” Megan faded back to lean against the table. “Levona worked hard today.” Megan cast a glance at Pizi. “Unlike the cat whom I observed coming and going and playing around the landing site. I’m inclined to think well of Levona and support her in her bid to take an empty space if someone doesn’t show.”

  “We have a full waiting list! She would take the place of someone who has already proven their worth to us! It is unfair for this person to take someone else’s deeply desired position,” the sharp-toned woman pointed out. A pale blond, she stood, tall and thin, with a small hunch of her shoulders. She didn’t introduce herself, but others had called her Ava Quintana.

  With a sinking feeling in her gut, Levona admitted the justice of the woman’s statement. All the others radiated acceptance of those words, backed by emotions of … honor.

  While marching to the conference room surrounded by other gifted psi-mutants, Levona’s brain had scrambled to find a way she could stay on the ship. Sucking in her breath now, she scanned the faces before her — Donna Clague, Megan Dufort and Netra Hoku sympathetic, Ava Quintana and a couple of others antagonistic, but most showed an impassive expression like Umar Clague.

  All these people judged her.

  She couldn’t lose this opportunity. She couldn’t. She met each chill gaze. “You need a volunteer for the cryonic process.”

  Pizi gasped, but Levona continued. “I will do that. I will volunteer to be frozen and put in stasis and later be revived. For a place in the crew, and for a tube for myself and Pizi, should one become available.”

  “All the tubes are bespoke,” Ava Quintana said in a hard voice.

  “But not all of those who paid for the tubes have arrived, right? If you have a vacancy, I want it.”

  “The cost is much higher than anything you could provide,” replied Ava. She kept staring just past Levona’s ear, so she must see something normal people didn’t.

  “Is that what my aura tells you?” Levona asked. “That I have little money? That is true.”

  BUT WE HAS SKILLS! Especially My Levona! Pizi yelled.

  Most people winced at the sound blast
ing into their brains. “We can hear you, cat,” Hoku said.

  “She does have the cat,” Donna murmured. “And the cat is extraordinary, a true psychic mutant. A cat with excellent psi that could show up in her kittens, if she bred. We need all the psi we can get.”

  “And Levona Martinez also carries excellent psychic talent in her genes, should she decide to breed on this voyage, rather the same situation as myself,” Megan Dufort said.

  Accent thicker, Umar Clague said, “We will not discriminate on the basis of psychic power. We will not refuse a person on our waiting list with … marginal talent … because we would prefer a stronger psychic like Levona Martinez. I refuse to accept this notion.” He made a cutting gesture. “That discussion is closed.”

  I WILL be Mother of Cats. Of Heart Friend Cats and companions! Pizi put in.

  Hoku rubbed his face. “Is there a way we can find a position—”

  Umar Clague cut him off. “The situation before us is that we need to test the cryonics tube process — the putting a person into such a “sleep” and reviving them, successfully. Earlier this evening, none of us wished to volunteer, and we’d reached an impasse. Now we have a volunteer.”

  “She’ll do it for a price,” Ava spit out.

  “This whole venture is being done for each of our benefits. We’re all reaping a huge reward. We get to escape this world to a new one. That’s a benefit few on this planet continue to have,” Megan stated. “And we are paying, too. I put in every last centime I had to reserve a cryonics tube, I traversed a country to reach the gathering place and got on Lugh’s Spear and flew here with the rest of you. I am offering my skills as a provisioner and a guard. I am offering my body and my future to find an acceptable lover and have psychically talented children. Every one of us has the same story.”

  Time to speak up again. “I do volunteer as a … as a specimen for your experiment.” Not quite the right word, but Levona pushed on. “As I understand, neither of the other ships have done a test of the cryonics procedure, either. I volunteer, you can use me as a sample. You can study me and report the results of the process to everyone else on all the ships who intend to travel this way. I will place my life in your hands.” Another sweep of her glance to each. “In the hands of people who dislike me, but whom I trust to be honorable.”