Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [34]
Jo-Jo picked it up and peeled the lid back. The stale water stank of sulphur. ‘We could just start close. Do the whole near perimeter. Might be we don’t have to go to the top to find what we need.’
Randall inclined her head, thinking about what he’d said. ‘Could do that, if you’re too weak to go all the way.’
He ignored her goading. Something told him it was better to rest now, not exhaust themselves again, hiking the mountain in the blistering night winds. ‘I am,’ he said, and met her gaze. ‘And I’m bettin’ you are too. You’re just too dogged to say so.’
Her eyes narrowed with mistrust. She was as mentally sharp as always, despite exhaustion and starvation. ‘Your way this time. But don’t get used to it.’
He nodded, and followed her upstairs and along to the end of the building, to the door through which they’d first entered. Just the two of them. They left Catchut up a level, near the san, with a couple of water canisters and a plate of two-day-old polenta.
‘I’ll be shittin’ bricks by the time you get back, Capo,’ he’d said to his boss.
‘Long as it’s in the right place, Cat. Not cleaning up after you.’
Catchut had barely smiled. He’d been subdued since escaping the Extro ship. The toll he’d paid hadn’t just been an injured foot. Something had deeply shaken his confidence. His eyes constantly followed Randall, as though he was seeking reassurance. When they were leaving him, his face showed fear and a little desperation.
Jo-Jo hadn’t said anything to him. Catchut wouldn’t appreciate it.
Now, as they stepped outside into the dark, Jo-Jo concentrated on following Randall’s back. He’d stopped short of suggesting that they strap themselves together so they didn’t get separated.
As if reading his mind, Randall stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. ‘Take a good look where the building is in relation to everything else. If we end up being split, you’ll have to find your own way back.’
‘I spent thirty years scouting minerals in the unchartered territories,’ he told her abruptly.
‘Yeah, but did you ever do it without your gear? Your instruments?’
He didn’t answer. She was right about that. Dead reckoning wasn’t something he’d ever had to use.
‘Just take a good look,’ she said. ‘It’s always different in the dark.’
He did as she suggested without further protest, mapping points of reference: the angle of the landing port in the distance, the shape of the building, the approximate distance to the shadowy peak of Mount Pell.
He signalled that he was ready, and she began to climb.
Randall had already told him what she knew of the area: that many of the larger buildings – villas, she’d called them – had been owned by the wealthy upper-caste Latinos. The dwellings were scattered around the impressive sprawling studium compound, the Principe’s palazzo and other official structures.
‘I’m figuring the Saqr will’ve been through all the important places – anywhere there might’ve been a concentration of ’esques or resources. Could be we’ll have more luck in houses of the lesser nobles, and the smaller offices.’
Jo-Jo liked her reckoning and settled in to let her lead the way. Randall had been here before. The closest he’d gotten to planetside before now was the detention block in the Dowl station, and then …
Helpless. Drifting in the black alongside Dowl. Bethany Jonil had dragged him back to safety when they’d escaped the station by shooting themselves into space. He owed her.
He spared a moment to wonder if she’d found happiness with that idiot scholar. Though used badly by life, Beth had determination – like her brother, Lasper Farr. She’d made Jo-Jo promise to find her daughter. He’d agreed, never imagining he’d be back here.
Now that he was, the idea gave him purpose. He’d seek Beth’s daughter out, if she’d survived. What was her name? ‘Jess?’
‘What?’ hissed Randall.
‘Nothin’,’ he replied.
‘Then stop talking to yourself. You’re creepin’ me out.’
He refocused on the climb through the darkness. Much of the mountainside was smooth, bare rock, or scree slopes of slippery gravel. Randall did her best to