A corner of Nadryer’s mouth lifted in amusement. “Saggy?”
“Technical term. Used by rescuers everywhere.” Taz took a centering breath, then used her telekinetic talent to ease the woman into the capsule. It took concentration to keep her floppy legs in line with the rest of her body.
Nadryer lifted her hand to touch the top of the capsule.
Taz nudged the woman’s hips in to center them. “Being in a capsule is like being in an autodoc that flies. I’ll tell it about the neuro block and that you’re, er, allergic to receptor-type painkillers. When I seal the door, it’ll insert a billion microneedles, scan your injuries, and take you to the nearest accepting medic center. Any questions?”
“No.” Unexpectedly, the woman grabbed Taz’s hand. “Thank you. Get training for your sifter talent. It’s at least as strong as your teke talent.”
“I will,” Taz agreed reflexively, then remembered the woman was another sifter who could detect half-truths. “I’ll consider it.” But not while she was still in the CPS, where a telepath could interrogate her anytime they wanted if they thought she was hiding something like that. As it was, she was alarmed the woman had sensed her unactivated sifter talent without even trying.
Taz extracted her hand, entered data into the capsule’s controller, then sealed it up. Nadryer’s face, visible through the viewport, relaxed to unconsciousness after a few seconds.
Just as she was guiding the capsule out the storeroom door, the lights flickered again. Nearly ten seconds this time. Not a good sign.
Rylando crossed to her. “New lifesign near the lifts.” His finger brushed his nose and chin, meaning the lifesign came via one of his animals, not tech. He started to speak, then appeared to think better of it. “Let’s get this group safe, then check out the lifts.”
“Apologies for interrupting, sirs,” said Instructor Vangeli, “but we know the way out, and you said it’s clear. Your skills are needed that way.” She pointed in the direction of the lifts. “Someone is growing very fearful.”
Rylando’s gaze drifted and lost focus for a long moment. He turned toward the group with sudden energy. “We accept your offer. Watch the glass in the front foyer. Your flitters, if that’s how you got here, are inaccessible right now. Head for the park about a kilometer east. Emergency Response Command will get you sorted.” He squeezed past Taz to enter the storeroom.
As Vangeli herded her students out just as effectively as Shen would have, Rylando came back with the medical pack slung over his shoulder.
“Orders?” she asked.
“Suit up and follow me. A young human female is hanging onto something thin at the bottom of an open lift shaft.”
Chapter 4
Salamaray Citizen Activity Center, Perlarossa • GDAT 3242.334
Out of hard-won experience, Rylando knew not to trust the airsled’s self-navigation capability in an unknown structure. Taz and Hatya said the much-patched AI needed total reconstruction from its neural net on up. Considering GSAR’s budget, there was a less than zero chance of that.
Unfortunately, it meant he couldn’t both operate the airsled and keep in mental contact with his animal team. He trusted them not to create havoc, but sometimes they let their mission get in the way of their good sense.
He wasn’t much better. Though she hid it well, he knew Taz disliked being underground. He’d instinctively wanted to save her from having to descend into a deep shaft by sending her with the group they’d freed. Not only was it against the regs—and common sense—to operate solo, but she’d have been deeply insulted, and rightly so.
It came down to trusting her to tell him if she couldn’t handle something. And hoping she trusted him enough to admit it. The trouble was, considering how firmly he’d kept her at a distance, first out of wariness, then while fighting his fascination, he wasn’t sure he’d earned that trust.
The wide hallway opened into a wider area that served as the lift lobby. The building plans proved to be accurate about the location of the lift shaft but the fact that it was at least three times larger than usual had not been noted.
He slowed the airsled to a hover and triggered its scanners.
The lift’s sliding doors should have been closed, not gaping open to expose the shaft below. To the left sat Shen and Moyo, both watching him and Taz for orders. A quick check with his talent told him the cats were around the corner in the far hallway, investigating an interesting smell.
On the walls, static directional displays showed maps and listed occupants in that section of the L-shaped building. A separate display advertised the storage business in the basement, listing the features and prices for their units and reminded existing customers to use their access token to operate the lift. Too bad the building AI wasn’t speaking to Taz, or they could have queried it about the number of token uses that morning.
Pieces of the patterned ceiling littered the floor, especially near the dimly lit shaft.
Taz’s tone sounded in his earwire. “My scans say the decorative ceiling layer isn’t stable, but it’s thin. The denscrete above it is solid. I might be getting more lifesigns below ground to the west, but it could be echoes. The lift shaft is lined with more incalloy.”
The airsled’s results came back a moment later. “My scans confirm.” He was beginning to agree with Taz’s theory about the settlement company running up the planet’s debt. It would have been cheaper to line the shaft with rainbow corundum crystals set in pavilium filigree.
He eased the airsled forward and grounded it. At his request, Moyo and Shen trotted over to jump in the open side door. The two cats agreed to think about it.
Taz crossed straight to the shaft opening, crouched, and extended her shoulder camera array and floodlight pointed down. “Hello! Subcaptains Correa and Delroinn from Galactic Search and Rescue. Do you need assistance?” Her suit-amplified words echoed on the hard walls.
“Yes! I’m stuck down here. You must help my father, too!” The faint German-accented voice sounded like it might come from the teenage girl he’d seen in Moyo’s memory. He raised the sound detection on his console.
“Is your father with you?” asked Taz.
“No, he’s in the storage section. I hope. When the earthquake hit, the frelling lift took me all the way below the basement and wouldn’t move. When the wallcomp wouldn’t wake up and I couldn’t get comms on my percomp, I climbed to the top of the car and opened the service access. But I’m too short to reach the service ladder.”
Taz’s words echoed again. “Is anyone else with you? Are you hurt?”
Rylando brought up the holo image and readouts from Taz’s cameras. No wonder the girl’s voice had sounded faint. The shaft bottom, which should have only been five or six meters down, was almost twenty meters deep.
A girl with intricately braided but dusty hair and light brown skin looked up. Her long-sleeved coat puffed out on all sides. He’d have thought it was too hot to wear for summer, but fashionable civilian clothing baffled him. In GSAR, he had a choice of formal military dress greys, rescuer yellow and red, or sleep pants. He wasn’t ever off-duty long enough to make it worth owning anything else.