“Looks good,” her Dramok reported as the indicators on her forearms flashed green. “You won’t need it. The counters outside the barrier are showing acceptable levels.”
He gave her an encouraging smile, but his expression was tight. Tina was sure radiation counts had nothing to do with the underlying tension he couldn’t quite hide.
Her stomach was heavy as Tukui turned from her to address the rest of the search party in the large shuttle skimming the skies outside the site. “The boy hasn’t been seen from our flyovers. We’re fairly sure of the direction he’s heading though, and I’ve programmed the trackers for the specific address he hopes to find. The tracker will try to route you along a street that was destroyed by the earthquakes in the next quarter of a mile. It’ll offer us six alternates once we reach that point, any of which Zac might have taken.”
The shuttle shifted slightly under Tina’s feet. They’d landed.
Tukui continued his instructions. “We’re teams of two to each route, and I’ve given you your assignments. Move out as soon as you’re ready.”
Osopa spoke from her right. “You’ll be with me, my Matara. If there’s anyone Zac won’t come to at this point, it’ll be me.” He appeared pinched with regret behind his clear helmet. “I did my best not to scare him, but I fear I insulted him when we had our talk on the balcony. No doubt that’s why he decided to take this action. I’m sorry.”
“We’re all doing our best with him. I’ve made more than my share of mistakes,” she said.
She could have offered better comfort. Tina believed Zac would have eventually gone looking for his parents given any opportunity to do so. However, she was afraid to mention it. Surely her clanmates must feel she and her siblings were proving too much trouble to keep. Zac’s belligerence had reached a crisis point.
If I’d kept myself together, they wouldn’t have had to keep him and Callie for me yesterday. He wouldn’t have been upset this morning. We wouldn’t be trying to recover him before something awful happens.
Tina had screwed up, falling apart at the worst possible moment. Could her clan forgive her?
They exited the shuttle. It had set down near to the vessel that Zac had hitched his ride on, using a small patch of flat land. The sun was low, ticking down the minutes before it set over the remains of a suburban neighborhood.
In the not-so-great distance, only a quarter mile, the rubble began. The group of twelve set off down a stretch of cracked asphalt, once a road that had run between shops, houses, and apartment buildings. Now there were piles of concrete, timber, broken glass, and twisted steel girders as far as the eye could see.
Farther away, a hectic orange glow formed a dome shape. The glow emitted from poisonous clouds within the containment, lit with unseemly spectacular beauty by the descending sun.
It didn’t take long for the road to disintegrate into cracked lumps, covered in many places by debris. As they walked deeper into what had become an unrecognizable wasteland, Tina fell behind the main group of long-legged, agile Kalquorians. Osopa matched her pace and didn’t complain. He was encouraging though the others soon disappeared before them when the road disappeared under a mountain of wreckage. By the time Tina and Osopa reached that point, she saw no sign of the rest of the rescue team. Osopa pointed her on their assigned course. Tina stumbled on.
After perhaps half an hour, the containment barrier loomed before them. Tina couldn’t see the invisible wall itself, but that brutal orange filled the world before her, casting the blasted landscape under thick shadow. “Why does it look like that?” she asked.
“Dust particles drifting through the air. It’ll be weeks before it all settles.”
As he helped her over a particularly hazardous pile of ruin, Tina thought of how much quicker the Nobek would cover the distance without her. But as Osopa had said, Zac wasn’t apt to come to him.
“I’m sorry.” The apology burst loose on a sob.
“For what, my Matara?” His voice was soft.
“I could have done better with Zac. I should have realized he’d try to go home. This mess isn’t what you wanted when you clanned me—”
“What I wanted was a Matara to devote myself to. That you’re accompanied by two precious children is a bonus.”
“How can you say that? You don’t even want children.”
Osopa started. “What makes you say that?”
“We had that conversation about when I’d be ready for babies, remember? Shortly after you took me from Europa? ‘Please, not too soon.’ That’s what you said.”
“Did I? I wasn’t speaking of forever. I wanted to get to know you first. To concentrate on you exclusively, which isn’t possible when little ones come along. But it was never a case of not wanting to be a father. I honestly look forward to that.”
Tina swallowed a lump in her throat. She’d misunderstood. He was smiling at the thought of being a parent. Yet, she still saw a wedge being driven between them. “Zac has been against you from the start. The disrespect, the attacks, the screaming—”
“He reminds me of myself when I was young. Though I didn’t dare show it, I was angry at my parents for giving all their attention to my sister and her troubles. Hurt that I came in second. He’s experiencing much of the same, as well as scared about a future he can’t even guess at.”
“Plus grieving. For all his objections, he knows deep down that his parents are dead.”
“He’s being brave despite everything. Look at how he’s managed to get out here. Think of his determination to find his family, regardless of the odds against him. And he’s only five years old. Ancestors, he’d make an excellent Nobek.”
Osopa’s tone rang with sincerity and admiration. A tear trickled down Tina’s cheek. Zac, if you could just hear how he feels about you. Maybe it would heal some of the wounds you’ve suffered.
“You like him, don’t you?”
“It will be an honor to raise such a child, once we direct that stubbornness in a more constructive direction. I hope to become his brother in truth, his friend—maybe even the parent I wished I’d been given. What a gift that would be.”
Osopa’s expression was open with fierce wonder, profound hope.
Tina reached for his hand. “I can’t believe my luck in having you for a clanmate.”
“I’m the lucky one. Because of you, I have a new job that fulfills me more than what I’d chosen and worked years for. But that’s not the best part.” He laughed at that, shaking his head. “Commander Lidon was right about a man’s true purpose and everyday acts of bravery. It has nothing to do with attaining rank or commanding a ship. It’s raising Callie and Zac. It’s being with you, my Matara. My purpose is all about the woman and family I love.”
Tina’s vision blurred. She blinked so that rivers poured down her cheeks. “Pickle juice. Of course you’d make me cry when I have a helmet on and can’t wipe my face.”
Osopa laughed. His gloved hand squeezed hers, and she smiled.
“I love you too, my Nobek.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep that love.”
His smile vanished the next instant. He froze and brought her to a standstill. He yanked off his helmet, inhaled, and growled.