Rats in the Pipes

27: Wide Open Sky

We cut straight across the plateau rather than following the contours of the ridge. Two hours later we saw the jumble of rocks at the top of the cliff. Jan sighed "If we start first thing we shouldn't stop at the shelter but carry on. So today was an even bigger waste than I thought."

I shook my head and pointed. I could see the others and the bin at the edge of the plateau. I waved and shouted but Sol and Per were looking up at the sky and they were too far away to hear me. Then Mik started jumping up and down and tugging at Per. He turned and waved. Jan made come here gestures and they started towards us. When we met them Jan gave an exclamation of relief.

"Thank goodness you decided to come! We were kicking ourselves because we thought we'd wasted a day."

"When you hadn't come back by early afternoon Per suggested we should shift ourselves up to the top even though we didn't know where you'd gone. He thought it would save quite a bit of time if we were here to meet you. He was right. It took ages to heave the bin and all the stuff up. We'd not long repacked it when Mik saw you."

The walk back to the shelter was pleasant. The clouds had cleared and the sky was a deep blue. The sun was low in the west and warm on our backs. It made long shadows on the ground in front of us and we waved at ourselves and made silly shapes for Mik who was hugely entranced by the whole thing and jumped about and squealed excitedly. When we first had him he was solemn and serious and thought he had to work at cleaning the studio. Now he's much more playful. It makes us both happy that despite everything we're managing to give him a something like a carefree childhood. It was Jan's turn to push the bin and Sol was just in front of him looking for the easiest bits of ground. Mik was holding her hand. He has finally stopped calling her 'that woman' and started using her name. Per and I were walking a little way behind Jan. I felt Per slip his hand into mine and glanced at him in surprise.

"Something we could never do in the City, walk along hand in hand. I used to wish we could."

"We couldn't do this either" I leant over and kissed him lightly on the lips. He returned the kiss and laughed happily.

"While you were were off prospecting Sol told me Jan came clean to her last night about not being a debt fugitive. I'm not sure she wasn't a bit disappointed to find he's not actually a feckless waster."

"I'd have thought she'd be pleased. She finally snaffled an UpCit man even if it is mad Jan." At this point Mik let go of Sol's hand and came back to us.

"Fant is very tired." Since it was almost Per's turn for the bin I picked Mik up and sat him on my shoulders. After that I was an elephant exploring the plains of India under the direction of my rider. We made it to the shelter just as the last of the twilight faded to night. I could hardly keep my eyes open long enough to eat cold gloop. If there were lumps of anything on the ground I never noticed them. I succumbed to sleep the moment I lay down.

The next morning we scrambled up to the top of the ridge and lay there looking northwards. From up here we could see the high point of the City that contained the botanical gardens surrounded by the spires of the Elite enclave A short roadway snaked down to a flat terrace. Skimmers take off and land almost vertically so they don't need a large space. The area was surrounded by bunkers dug unto the hillside to protect skimmers from storm damage. Beyond that we could see high hills rolling away to the north and to our east the range of mountains that we needed to find a way through.

Per shaded his eyes "Are those real trees inside that dome?" When Jan and I nodded he sighed. "It's all amazingly beautiful compared to the bit we lived in."

I felt anger welling up inside me as I always did when I thought about the City and the way it was controlled "It's not surprising there's a difference. In round figures there are two thousand elite. They occupy a larger area than the two hundred and fifty thousand people who live in UpCit. The rest of the City has nearly four million crammed into it. When the project got subverted the Tesh Viks made money the condition of where you lived. The more you could pay the better the space you could inhabit. They made some exceptions for medical people and others because they were useful. Most of the residents of UpCit are the highly skilled professionals the Elite need to keep themselves healthy, their environment functioning efficiently and their children educated."