"You don't resign from my job, Asher... ever," Tarris said soberly. "Now get moving." The pain increased as her muscles started to cramp. To her, it was pleasure and pain all rolled up into one. They were in complete darkness now and were crawling along a pipe that was barely high enough to house them comfortably.

"Go to the right," Jerad called.

"Right?" Asher said. "I can't see a damned thin-" Tarris heard the thunk when she ran straight into a wall with her head. "Owww!"

"I said right," Jerad yelled.

Tarris followed behind Asher and felt the slight incline as they veered right. There was a sudden gust of wind, which was welcome in the confined space of the drain.

"Stop!" Jerad called out.

Tarris extended her hand to one side and felt the brick wall. On the other side, her hand touched air. There seemed to be a niche in the wall, and she suspected this was Jerad's home. Without instruction, she fell forward onto the platform to allow her legs to extend. The cramping pain was still there, and she was unable to relieve it. Her muscles just wouldn't do what she wanted them to. A moan escaped her lips.

"Hey!" Asher's voice was close by. Tarris heard the rustle of Asher's bag and a moment later something cold brushed the inside of her elbow. There was discomfort for a moment before the pain drifted into the background. "That should help," Asher whispered in her ear.

Tarris couldn't argue. She had been too stubborn to give herself the pain relief, but she didn't begrudge Asher doing it for her. Besides, the injection had been done before she had the chance to argue. With her face squashed into the dirty rock floor, Tarris lay there until the pain slowly slid into the background of her consciousness. A few moments later, there was light. She moved her head to face the source and looked at the flickering flames.

"How did you do that?" Asher asked.

"With these." Jerad held up two rocks. "Haven't you seen fire before?"

"Never had the need to," Tarris mumbled. "We use other energy sources less primitive than this."

"Where are they?" he said with a smug expression.

"A lifetime away," Tarris murmured. Her eyes closed, and she drifted off to sleep for a while.

She woke to the smell of something cooking. The sizzle and pop sounds made by the meat bounced around the enclosed space like a ball. "What's that?" She had spoken the words, but it came out as garble.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

Tarris heard Asher speak, and she slowly opened her eyes. Propped over the fire was something small that had once been alive. A few hairs hadn't been consumed by the fire just yet, but they gave Tarris a fair idea of what was on the spit.

"All the more for me," Jerad said.

"Now you're awake," Asher said, "I'll take a look at your back." She hunkered down next to Tarris and extracted her emergency medical kit from her bag. Tarris undid the top of her jumpsuit and pulled the material down to her waist to expose the metal waistband of her frame. She watched as Asher loaded the infuser with her "special mixture," as she thought of it, which was designed to stimulate the nerves and fight any possible infection or rejection that might take place.

"Why do you wear that thing?" Jerad pointed to the metal frame.

"Because I can't walk."

"Yes, you can. I saw you."

"This helps me to walk. My legs are useless."

"Not for long," Asher murmured as she tended to Tarris's back.

"Yes. Not for long," Tarris repeated.

"What's this?" Asher's voice held a hint of panic.

Tarris reached her hand around to her back and felt it. She had forgotten all about the tiny transmitter that had been taped there.

"Oh crap!" Tarris tried to sit up, but Asher held her in place to give her the drugs. Once the injection was done, she removed her hand.

"Now what?" Asher asked as she put away her kit.

"This. The transmitter. That's how they found us at the market," Tarris said, "and now they know we're here."

Jerad backed away until he was against the wall. "Who are you?"

"You don't want to know, kid." Tarris didn't want to scare him.

"Yes, I do. And don't call me kid."

Tarris glanced at Asher, who nodded. She reached around to the tab at the base of her neck and tapped it. Jerad's expression changed from uncertainty to fear.

"You don't need to be afraid, Jerad."

"You're... you're one of them."

"Yes, I'm one of them," Tarris answered in a sad voice. "But I have no reason to harm you. You're safe from me."

Is this why you hide, sister?

Rya's intonation was more of curiosity than anger or fear.

Yes. I don't want to be one of them anymore. I'm human, despite what Corman says. I want my own life, Rya.

With her?

Tarris looked at Asher again. There was a strange expression on Asher's face, as if she knew she was being talked about.

Yes. No. I don't know. I've been alone so long, I don't know how to interact with someone anymore.

You have me.

Yes, I have you, my sister. Tarris smiled gently. My one and only true friend.

And now you have her.

Yes, and now I have her... too.

"You can tell Rya everything will be all right." As Asher spoke, her hand brushed Tarris's back.

"How did you...?"

Asher answered by placing her hand over her own chest. "It all comes from here."

"Are you two getting all mushy or something?" Jerad spoke up from his position against the far wall.

Tarris lifted herself up onto her elbows and chuckled. "As if..." She reached behind her head and tapped the tab. Jerad's stance relaxed as the dark hair replaced the white.

"Is it true?" he asked.

"Is what true?" Asher helped her sit up. It took great effort for Tarris to move about in the small alcove of rock, made even more difficult because there were no handholds to grab onto to help lift herself.

"About them. Is it true?"

"What have you heard?" Tarris placed her arms in the sleeves of her jumpsuit. The magnetic closers attracted to one another once they were near enough.

"Don't we have to go?" Asher reminded her.

"Yes, we do. Grab your belongings," Tarris said. "Jerad, is there another way out of here?" She didn't want to crawl again, but she didn't want to get caught either.

"There's up there." He pointed to the tiny grate way above their heads. It had been the source of the gentle breeze that had blown through the pipes.

"And there's no way of getting up there unless we climb." Tarris knew for sure she couldn't do that. "What about that way?" She indicated the pipeline they were already in and pointed into the blackness.

"It comes up at another grate two blocks away," Jerad said as he reached for a canister of water.

"And it's sure to be covered by the guards. What about the left fork in the tunnel?"

"It goes down."

"To where?" Tarris fastened her bag closed.

"Don't know. No one's ever been down there. At least, no one who ever came back to say so," Jerad said it solemnly, as if he were reciting some sort of prophecy.

As Tarris looked upward, a shadow drifted across the grate at the top. Faint sounds traveled along the pipe and echoed down to the tiny cavern they were in. She picked up the transmitter and nicked herself with it to smear her own blood over the outside of the box.

"You are one strange woman," Asher said.

"You're only finding that out now?" Tarris patted herself on the back for her witty repartee. Maybe conversation wasn't as hard as she had always thought it was. Asher reached into her bag and pulled out a small atomizer and sprayed the puncture with synthetic skin.

"This isn't a good place to go around with an open wound."

Tarris knew that it was the mediprac in Asher speaking. "True, but this will make them think I've only just discovered the treachery."

"Oh, yeah, that'll really show them."

"Hey!" Tarris's eyebrows knitted together in annoyance. "I'm doing the best I can. Okay?"

"And your best is great, Tarris." Asher patted her hand.

Tarris dropped the transmitter on the platform and flung the bag over her shoulder. "I think I preferred the anger," she muttered. "We're going down. We've got no choice." She grabbed Asher and pushed her back into the pipeline.

Tarris stopped for a moment and addressed Jerad. "You don't have to come. You might be lucky, and they won't harm you." But Tarris knew it was a lie. The kid was a nobody, and the soldiers wouldn't think twice about killing him on the spot. He would become just another statistic of the Sweeps.

The sound of muffled voices grew steadily closer. They would have to move now or lose their chance to escape. Tarris shifted herself back into the drain and pushed on Asher's ass to urge her down the slight incline to the junction. The area went dark, and she heard the hiss as Jerad poured water on the flames.

"Go! Go!" She pushed Asher harder as they approached the junction. Beams of light bounced off the drain walls farther down the pipe, and while their pursuers hadn't found them yet, it was only a matter of time.

The new passage tilted downwards gently at first, but soon the decline got steeper. The floor was covered with slime, and any sort of purchase was nearly impossible. Suddenly Asher gave out a squeal, and her voice disappeared rapidly as she sped away from Tarris. Tarris was about to call out, when her own grip faltered. Suddenly she found herself on a slippery slide down the passage at an ever-increasing speed. With difficulty, she twisted herself around so she slid feet first.

"Asher!" Tarris tried to call softly as she continued her downward trajectory.

"Tarris!" Asher yelled. "There's a drop off! Help me!"

Tarris dug her heels in and tried to slow her momentum. A rotting smell erupted when her feet dug in and unearthed the slime she slid over. Finally, she began to slow. Asher still called out as Tarris approached her. Asher had somehow stopped but was in trouble. Was she to find herself in the same predicament?

Chapter 8.

At the moment, Tarris would have been grateful for the feeling in her legs to disappear. The passage had opened up into a huge underground cavern, barely lit by some unknown source. Her quick descent had stopped just short of a sheer drop to the ground below. The pipe had broken away, and Asher hung by her fingertips from the edge.

Tarris ignored the pain, just as she ignored the putrid goo that covered her hands and ended up under her fingernails as she pulled herself along to the edge. "I'm here. Don't panic," she said soothingly.

"I don't want to die," Asher sobbed.

"And you won't. Give me your hand." Just as she grabbed Asher's wrist, a body slammed into Tarris's back, and she tightened herself to stop the slide. The suit creaked as she forced her legs outwards to brace against the walls. "Good to see you again, Jerad," she spoke over her shoulder.

"Yeah, well. I figured you needed my help," he said in his usual cocky tone.

"We do." Tarris really didn't need his help, but if it made the kid feel good about himself, then who was she to stop him? "I have a job for you. See if you can find another way down from here."

"Sure."

She got a push in the back for her trouble as he tried to retrace his way up the pipe.

"I'm still here, by the way," Asher called.

"And I'm still rescuing you. Geez, woman!" Tarris wrapped a hand around Asher's other wrist. "Can you get your foot up to the pipe?"

"I'm not a contortionist."

Tarris sighed and released one of her hands. She reached for the tabs to her suit and locked her legs in place. She returned her hand to Asher's wrist and pulled. Asher shifted slightly but not enough to be of any help.

Let me help, sister.

If you can. Please. Tarris had never consciously said please to Rya before, but somehow it didn't seem out of place.