Dadr'Ba (16 page)

Taking a deep breath, he wiped out the name in the sand and exited Vr’Chm.

Su’Zi got up quickly from the lounge chair she was reclining on and quickly changed out of the lounge clothes she had been wearing while she calculated the best method and route to get over and up to sector three Ol’Tn. She didn’t have a very large selection of either clothes or routes to choose from. Most working miners that live in T’Bm’s or one of the camps near the operations have little more than a foot locker for all their things.

Mi’Nr’s live a nomadic life split between the T’Bm’s, the migrant camps and the Ol’Tn’s; the system works well and in spite of the separation, Mi’Nr’s maintain a close-knit community. Mi’Nr’s psychic powers are the strongest of all the races and the connection between family and friends is tight, unaffected by distance.

Living in the mining zone has its benefits, the greatest of which is that it’s nearly impossible for the CA to exert much influence over the Mi’Nr’s. All of the CA’s attempts to exercise control in Zone Three have all but failed.

CA’s control within Zone Three is limited to periodic inspections, establishing production quotas and getting copies of production and maintenance reports. The CA also administers the tests the children are required to pass, to qualify for graduation. The CA still has control of bio-mods. However, the Church maintains full control of the ToG ceremony, Birthing, and Retirements
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.

The CASS is constantly trying to insert or recruit spies and place monitoring or listening devices in the T’Bm’s, the camps, and the Ol’Tn’s. To little avail, the spies are soon exposed, due to the Mi’Nr’s heightened psychic abilities. Monitoring or listening devices are sought out and covertly broken, disabled or, just disappear.

A few of the CA’s devices are recovered in raids like the one that took Su’Zi’s father. Which usually seals the fate of head of the household, if not the entire family.

Su’Zi had to hurry, she didn’t want to keep P’Ko waiting, he’s young and may be impatient and may surrender to the fear Su’Zi sensed just below the surface. The fear that he was inadequate, that they’re incompatible, not meant or good for each other, was there and real. She tried to send him psychic reassurance but she wasn’t sure of its impact.

Why did she leave Vr’Chm so quickly? Without getting his contact information. Who’s the impatient one? Sometimes, she told herself, she needs to slow down and don’t let her emotions and impulses take over.

Su’Zi didn’t own any “go out” clothes or even “nice” casual clothes so she put on her best fitting work jumpsuit. The one she wore only once, it fits tight and restricts her movements a little, but she mostly doesn’t wear it because all the guys and many of the girls look at her more than paying attention to their jobs.

Sometimes Su’Zi wondered whether her bio-mods were an asset or liability, she’s proud of herself, and she considers herself as good or better a carpenter as any in sector two, probably as good as any aboard the whole ship. But knowing that she’s better known for her looks than her job performance frustrates her.

As she slipped into her jumpsuit, she was glad that she didn’t have the tailor loosen the fit. She looked at herself in the mirror and adjusted the fit, turning and passing her hand over her smooth, gentle curves and thought that her bio-mods aren’t that much of a handicap, after all, she felt happy, confident and good.

Su’Zi stepped out the camp trailer she shared with Ro’Sa, who had left earlier to go to Ol’Tn’Ba with her boyfriend and spend some time together and maybe do some shopping.

The camp trailers, converted cargo units and fuel tanks on wheels, were lined up in two rows within the ten-meter-wide tunnel. A narrow pathway separated them that led up to an airlock of sorts that kept out the worst of the cryogenic environment.

Su’Zi wondered what P’Ko was doing at Vr’Chm; hes from sector three should’ve still been at school. He must be cutting class. But nearing graduation, he should have been studying for exams. The odds were against this happening by chance. She knew at her core that they shared the dream, then against all odds found each other in Vr’Chm. There’s something powerful at work here. The thought pleased Su’Zi, as she trotted upslope in the heavy gravity towards the U’Tl
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garage just inside the airlock.

There she found Vas’Tu tinkering on one of the various U’Tl’s used to support the mining operation.

He noticed her trotting his way, stopped his work and focused his attention on her. They liked each other and for a while had a thing going, but it didn’t work out, yet they remained good friends.

Su’Zi, almost out of breath said: “Vas’Tu I need to run a quick errand in Ol’Tn what do you have for me?” He responded with a smile, “What’s your hurry? You got a date?” Eyeing her up and down in her almost skin tight jumpsuit. To which she replied, also smiling. “That’s none of your business” after a pause Vas’Tu replied “oh-kay, take Jm’Pr
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, she’s got a full charge.”

Su’Zi thanked Vas’Tu, calling him a “gem” as she climbed into the small two seat maintenance U’Tl, it was the fastest U’Tl in the garage, designed to fetch parts or tools from Ol’Tn or Camp and get them to the T’Bm as quickly as possible to minimize downtime.

Having recovered from her run in the heavy gravity Su’Zi buckled in as the automated hatch closed. Su’Zi engaged the drive, and the machine sprang to life, all four wheels scratched the deck as Su’Zi mashed the accelerator, the double airlock doors used to protect the camp from the frigid cold barely had time to operate as Su’Zi raced through them clearing them with mere centimeters to spare as they opened.

Su’Zi is an excellent driver. She had competed in and constantly does well in the numerous “emergency supply” races that each sector “practices” on a regular basis, often inviting participation from other sectors.

A massive annual event is held to crown the champion driver of Dadr’Ba. The competition is fierce with competitors coming from Ol’Tn garages, T’Bm’s and their supporting camps, and betting on the results is popular. Su’Zi even made the finals one year but had to drop out at the last moment due to a mechanical failure on her specially equipped U’Tl.

U’Tl racing is officially prohibited by the CA but treasured by the Mi’Nr’s. The races are held in secret, and part of the preparation is clearing the course of CASS surveillance devices and screening the spectators.

Knowing Jm’Pr as well as she did, Su’Zi bypassed the safety controls programmed to provide a ten percent safety margin to protect the machine and its critical systems. Operating manually Su’Zi pushed Jm’Pr’s safety margins down to nothing, and occasionally exceeded them, but was careful to back off afterward allowing the systems to recover.

She first crawled up from the lower levels of zone three. With each level, the gravity decreased, and Jm’Pr began to behave more like his name. Su’Zi chuckled to herself that Vas’Tu referred to Jm’Pr a “her,” she always thought of Jm’Pr as a “him.” wishful thinking on both of their parts, or so she guessed. She pushed Jm’Pr through a depression and felt the momentum press against her bottom, then as Jm’Pr surged out of the depression felt the shoulder straps securing her to the seat squeeze tightly against her body.

Su’Zi enjoyed driving Jm’Pr hard and felt exhilarated by the sensations she was in control of, she gunned Jm’Pr to the top of another rise feeling the momentary weightlessness, then the press of the landing that marked the point where the T’Bm that created the tunnel had angled down to the next level of borings.

Again and again, Su’Zi pushed through the levels getting a little more air with each until she had to back off to keep Jm’Pr’s landings stable on the uneven tunnel floor and prevent hitting the tunnel roof. Making good time Su’Zi was soon at the unmonitored cross-sector utility airlock between sector two and three.

Jumping out of the U’Tl Su’Zi quickly disengaged the manually operated latch, and nudged Jm’Pr through the opening, the counterbalanced hatch swung closed behind her. Now it would only be minutes to get to sector three’s Ol’Tn, where she’ll meet P’Ko in person.

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P’Ko, uncertain if Su’Zi left Vr’Chm to get ready and go to the Hn’Gri Bo’R or not, got ready to go there himself. Going there and not finding her would be a small consequence opposed to not showing and standing her up. Perhaps there had been a malfunction or problem with her TaC-B connection or she got called away. He resolved to go Hn’Gri Bo’R and if she wasn’t there wait a little while then leave.

P’Ko thought as he was getting ready to go that Su’Zi must know, or at least know of Mi’Ka. He would have to ask her.

He swapped out his TaC-B for his stealth TaC-B. P’Ko guessed that Ma and Ba must know about his stealth TaC-B, he’s been sneaking out for years now, and there had even been a few close calls. But he’d never been caught outright or got into any trouble, successfully avoiding any run-ins or warnings from the CA. So his parents let him have his little secret.

P’Ko was supposed to be home studying for the final graduation exams but was so confident in his knowledge of the material that he’d been exploring Vr’Chm instead of studying. Now he was going to be off to Ol’Tn on a ‘date’ and not just an ordinary date, like the ones he’d had with other To’Ta’s, but a date with a full grown, strikingly beautiful woman, one that he shared a mutual attraction with.

He put on his mechanic’s coveralls and covered his bald head with the mechanic’s cap and completed his disguise by shouldering his tool bag, then walked out the door, glancing at himself in the mirror as he passed. He thought he looked good, in spite of being a dressed up clone, and thought with a false sense of bravado, that maybe he could take Su’Zi by his side job at the D’Po, Lu’Gs would be so jealous.

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Jm’Pr lurched to a stop near the utility stair adjacent to the service elevator. Su’Zi jumped out and raced up the stair, though unlikely, given the distance she had to travel, she wanted to beat P’Ko to the Hn’Gri Bo’R.

Vas’Tu will be unhappy with the way she pushed Jm’Pr; he’ll know when he checks Jm’Pr’s trip computer how hard she drove, but it’s worth it, it translates to more time she can spend at this critical first meeting with P’Ko. She’ll just tell Vas’Tu that she wanted a practice run for the upcoming race though still months away. Vas’Tu should be impressed with her time, especially given the fact that she didn’t break anything. All she need to do is remind Vas’Tu of the times she’d been out with Vas’Tu, and he broke something on the U’Tl he was driving trying to impress her.

She smiled and waved as she passed the broken security camera laying on the deck as she raced up the stair to Ol’Tn.

P’Ko was confident as he walked down the street toward the Hn’Gri Bo’R that he would beat Su’Zi there and would have a wait on his hands.

Su’Zi had to be coming from at least twenty levels down and even with his taking his time, it would be virtually impossible for Su’Zi to get there before he did.

As P’Ko got closer, his anxiety grew, and he found himself secretly hoping that he and Su’Zi had gotten their signals crossed and would have to reconnect somehow and reschedule, he needed the time to think this through.

As P’Ko walked up the steps of the Hn’Gri Bo’R, he contemplated having tea while he waited, but couldn’t see himself sitting drinking a tea and have Su’Zi show up. He decided to wait half an hour maybe an hour, then if Su’Zi doesn’t show, visit Mi’Ka or stop by the D’Po on his way home, then look for Su’Zi on the virtual beach tomorrow.

He walked in the small, crowded restaurant looking for a table and there she was! The sight of her was totally unexpected and as their eyes met, the expression on her face changed, as she sensed and saw through his disguise, her face brightened, and P’Ko felt a powerful wave of psychic energy focus on him. It felt like a blast of warm air flowed towards him. In an instant, she was giving him a real hug. Despite being better prepared this time, her powerful Mi’Nr arms squeezed him for a moment he thought she might break or strain something on him and for an instant, his vision began to close in.

After a long moment she relaxed her embrace, P’Ko recovered and was able to reciprocate, though not nearly as strong. This time, quite unexpectedly, he felt her equally powerful psychic embrace.

This was an instant friend, no, more than a friend, love maybe? P’Ko couldn’t understand it; he didn’t know what real love feels like, he felt powerful feelings from the instant he saw Su’Zi but couldn’t allow himself to believe it was love at first sight.

Whatever this is, it marked the beginning of something profound. As all this sunk in, in just a few shallow breaths following the hug, his understanding, his intellect and his judgment began a war with his impulse, intuition, and perception.

P’Ko pushed all these thoughts aside, as he returned Su’Zi’s embrace and allowed his psyche to shoulder up to hers, noting her unguarded welcoming energy. Although he sensed that she would not have minded and would have even welcomed a psychic embrace, P’Ko had never done so with anyone before, not even his ma or ba. His parents had cradled and caressed he and his brother physically when they were Bo’Ba’s but had never shared a psychic embrace. He was raised believing that such things were for mates or couples looking for mates.

P’Ko, as he felt the embrace start to wain was the first to initiate the little extra squeeze to which Su’Zi joined in on, and he felt a sub-audible hum from Su’Zi deep in his chest. Parting they exchanged an up close glance, staring for a brief moment into each other’s eyes, then walked over to the booth she had been sitting at. And sitting across from one another, ordered tea.