City of Ruins - By Kristine Kathryn Rusch Page 0,55

to get them. I’m not sure the Six can climb this.”

I barely can, although I don’t admit that to her. I’m not sure I like admitting that to myself.

I continue to climb. I count to keep my pace steady. I make sure I breathe. I try not to notice as I’m getting light-headed with heat and the increasing light.

I can’t get careless now, so close to the top.

“Are you up there by yourself?” I ask as I get closer.

“God, no,” she says.

“Are there guides?”

“Yes,” she says. “No medical personnel, though. They had to leave.”

I don’t want to know why.

“Get someone who can help me over the edge,” I say. “I’ll need water and food. In fact, we’re going to need to send water and food down. Can you do that?”

“Easily,” she says, and disappears again.

The medical personnel have left, even though we might need medical attention. Something has gone wrong elsewhere, or maybe even nearby.

As I reach the top, two of the guides lean over the edge.

I stifle a gasp. I’m afraid they’ll knock me loose.

“Don’t touch me,” I say. “Help when I tell you.”

Still they put their hands near me, so they can grab me if they need to. I’m alarmed at their closeness, but I’m comforted by it, too. I’m not alone here.

I was afraid I’d have to get over that edge on my own.

My head pops over the top.

Rubble everywhere, and another hovercart on its side. I see dust, rising in the distance, and hear faint voices from far away. The skyline looks different, but I’m not sure how.

I don’t care how, not at the moment.

“Okay,” I say. “Help me up.”

They grab my armpits and pull me over that edge. I scramble several meters away before stopping. I don’t want to fall back into that damn hole.

Ilona gives me a bottle of water. McAllister Bridge hands me some of that amazing applelike fruit that I enjoy. I’m surprised he’s there. I look around, realize that everyone is here—everyone I brought with me, my entire team.

It’s unbelievably hot, and I’m incredibly tired. But we’re nowhere near done.

“Get food down to the others,” I say to Ilona.

“Already doing that, Boss,” she says.

I nod. I’m a bit dizzy, and there are black spots in front of my eyes. I will myself not to faint. I grab that water and pour it over my head, cooling myself down. Bridge hands me another bottle of water without saying a word.

I wipe the water off my face. My hand comes away black. I must be filthy.

“All right,” I say. “Now how the hell are we getting the rest of the team up here?”

* * * *

TWENTY-NINE

C

oop managed four hours of sleep before his active brain woke him up. ^^ He went to the captain’s mess, had a huge breakfast, and then headed to the communications array.

Shipboard communications ran through the bridge, but the bulk of the equipment was in the engineering area. Engineering covered the largest part of the ship. Located in the very center of the ship as a precaution, engineering was usually one of the most stable parts of the Ivoire.

Although the engineering section hadn’t been stable since the Quurzod attack. Their quick, sharp one-man ships had gotten too close to the Ivoire, and their weaponry, while lacking power, had a directional focus that went into one part of a key system and moved through that system, effectively destroying it.

The engineers were rebuilding certain parts of the ship from scratch, including much of the Ivoire’s weaponry. The anacapa, the most protected part of the ship, had been damaged, but not destroyed.

The communications array, however, suffered the most damage. Coop needed his best engineers on the weaponry and damage to the anacapa, so he pulled some of the linguists to work on the communications array.

Linguists got engineering training on the communications array so that they could tweak it to meet the needs of some unknown language. Most of the linguists had no knack for engineering or repair, but one of them had an intuitive understanding of the array that bordered on genius.

Mae, his chief linguist. Also his ex-wife.

She stood near the door, a repair pad in hand, studying the schematics before her. The communications array filled the entire room and looked like many of the ship’s important systems—tiny panels with flips and lights that provided a redundant entry to the touch screens on each panel’s front.

An efficient communications array would be small enough to fit on the bridge. But the Fleet had