Eye of the Ocean Book 3 Ji'jin Station

Eye of the Ocean – Book 3: Ji’Jin Station
“Maybe I'll leave that for you to worry about as well.” Her voice held as much
of a smile as it did concern about what he had just said. She ran a very dirty
finger over the tile surface making a line in the growth of algae. “Can you feel her
at all?”
“No.” No more than he had been able to on Alisim before the Opening.
Alicia nodded slowly. “Then we'll have to get Rit conscious, at least for a while.
Or...” She rubbed her face. “Or we'll have to push him into pattern, either way,
he's got to make us a link to either Ulanda or Cassa.”
“And if it kills him?”
“He's dying, Garm. You know that.” Another rub of her face left smears under
her fingers. “He's dead already, it's just that Silassic keeps his heart going and
his lungs...”
Garm held her a moment. She fit against him easily, her head tucked under his
chin. “I kept telling him that I didn't love him, that I couldn't, that I was...”
“You loved him.”
“Is he dead because I didn't deserve him?” Small hands pushed him away and
she turned, her head down. When she looked back again, her face was clear of
tears, and half ways clean. “We'd better join the others. We'll set up here after
we've eaten and rested.” As she spoke, she was studying the tiles at the entrance
to the rounded corridor. “These will move. We can block this off.” With one hand
running against the tiles on the wall, she walked a little ways along the curve. “All
these will move. There are other doorways here that aren't in the maps we've got
of the Station. I hadn't checked before.”
He didn't feel anything. Then she put a hand over his over the tile and he felt
something but didn't know what to make of it. “Kori showed me what to look for.
They're the same as the hull tiles on ships, especially these older kinds. Some
move easily, others can, but won't unless you make a substantial effort. And they
have to recognize your authority.”
“And the other wall?” he asked, looking at the Center. Moisture dripped along
the surface, the air was thick and bitter in his mouth.
She tried that the same way, grimacing at the feel, then wiped her hand
carefully on the seat of her pants. “Same thing.” Neither the look nor her tone of
voice was happy.
“I'll go in first,” he said.
“Do you think that's a good idea?”
“Alicia, I might as well go first, I've nothing to lose. Sooner or later I'll go to
Cassa. I can take the risk, then you can follow if it's safe.”
Her lips were tight. “You're welcome to her.”
He was, and she to him, but he could never have explained to Alicia why. “Rit
helped make the old flitter bay into something different,” he said. “Separate but
livable. He can do the same here. With a link, he won't be able to help it; his
Laurel Hickey www.2morrow.bc.ca