She had hoped the movement and fresh air would clear her mind and vision, but it wasn't happening. She blundered through a blur of shadows. Her temple throbbed incessantly.
Keep going, just keep going. We've got to get out of here. Got to.
All at once, Arron was beside her. “Lynn, do you see it?”
He pointed. She sighted along his arm with her good eye. Through the trees and hanging moss, she saw a cluster of buildings, most likely a Getesaph family home. Nothing moved in the yard, and no light shone through the windows.
Probably deserted. Probably the owners were dead, but maybe they were just evacuated. She glanced anxiously at Resaime, who leaned against a tree, panting hard. Was it safe to take her there? They were already dancing with the plague out here. What if they took her inside to sleep with it, too?
“I know,” said Arron as if he read her thoughts. “But you're both about ready to fad over, and I'm not feeling so good myself.”
Lynn nodded. There was no choice.
“Are you good, Resaime?” Lynn straightened her shoulders. “Only a little farther.”
“I'm good.” Resaime pushed herself away from the tree.
Her ears drooped until the tips almost brushed her shoulders. “Let's get there.”
The homestead lay a few yards from the edge of the woodlands. Its paddies and tended bogs stretched out north and west beyond it. It was a typical Getesaph construction, a conglomeration of connected buildings, all of them three stories tall, with terraces on the second and third stories and steeply slanting ladders zigzagging between them.
Heaps of deflated leaves had blown right up to the door. Tiny mushrooms sprouted from the wooden doorframe. The gates on the livestock runs all hung open and swayed in the breeze.
Lynn swallowed. This place had been abandoned too long and too carelessly for its owners to have just been evacuated.
Lynn touched Arron's shoulder. “One of us needs to go in first and make sure the dead haven't just been left there.”
“Right. I'll—”
The house's main door swung open and two Getesaph, guns leveled, stepped out into the sunlight.
All three of them froze. The left-hand Getesaph gestured at their hands with her gun's long muzzle.
Which explains why nobody followed us, Lynn thought ridiculously as she raised her hands. They were ahead of us.
“All right,” said Arron in his perfect, smooth Getesaph. He raised his hands high over his head. “We want no blood from you.”
The right-hand Getesaph's ears stood straight up. “Scholar Arron?”
Arron opened his mouth and closed it again. Lynn's heart started beating again, hesitantly.
“They didn't say it was you.” She turned to her arms-sister. “Did you know about this, Balt?” She didn't use a title, which meant these two were sisters in blood, not just in arms.
The left-hand Getesaph shrugged irritably. “Entsh, if no one gave you names, no one would give them me. They just said we were out after two Humans and a devna.”
Res bared her teeth. Lynn made a decision. She carefully lifted the strap for her gun off her shoulder and laid the weapon on the ground. “Res, put the gun down,” she said in Getesaph. “These are allies of Arron's.”
The look Arron gave her was grateful. The look Res gave her was disbelieving, but she plucked the gun strap off her shoulder and laid the weapon down gently on a pile of leaves. The Getesaph's skin calmed visibly.
“Ovrth Entsh, Ovrth Balt,” Arron had seen the black bands on their uniform cuffs before Lynn had, “this is Manager Lynn of Bioverse, Inc.” He waved a hand toward Lynn. “She came here to help with the relocation. With us is Resaime Shin t'Theria, who is daughter to an ally.”
“You're allies with the devna?” Entsh's eats tipped back uncertainly. She had not lowered her gun.
Arron ignored the question. “Ovrth Entsh, what is going on?”
Her ears flickered back and forth, confused. “What do you mean?”
Arron gestured broadly with both hands. “I mean what is happening to the evacuation? Why were we being held? Why did we have to escape from a dungeon?”
Balt lowered her gun to an at-rest hold. Lynn found breathing suddenly became easier. “How can you not know what you've done?”
“I know what I've done.” Arron tapped his chest. “I found out that the names on the relocation passenger lists don't match the people who were relocating. What I don't know is why the Parliament is doing this?”
Balt pressed her nostrils closed. “Parliament isn't doing anything but sitting around with its eyes shut,” she muttered.
“Quiet, Balt.” Entsh dropped the muzzle of her gun until it was pointing at the ground. She shook her sister's shoulder gently with her other hand. “Scholar Arron, we've got to take you with us.”