The Creative Fire: 1 (Ruby's Song) (28 page)

43: Ruby’s Voice

Colin came up from behind Ruby and cupped her right shoulders with one of his large hands. “Are you ready to record?”

She put her hand briefly over his and then let it fall back into her lap. “I suppose I will never be more ready. And I best do this before I get caught.”

“I won’t let them catch you,” he replied.

This time, there was no Fox, just equipment lying torn from his studio or one like it, a headset and a recording box and a toggle. All of it plugged into a journal like the one she’d seen KJ using the day they ran away from capture, the day after the gray show of force. The journal was the kind that didn’t connect to Ix, although there would be no way to broadcast her voice without Ix knowing about it and maybe helping. But that was a puzzle she didn’t know enough to unravel. She had her journal with her, but she hadn’t needed the warning Colin gave her about keeping it off.

She reached for the headset and fit it over her unruly hair, sliding the jaw microphone into place and doing a brief sound check.

At least she’d paid close attention in the days she’d worked with Fox. She hadn’t seen him since the second day she’d been on the run, when he’d brought her the best of her clothes, her journal, and the hairclips that Ani had given her the first day she’d been on the logistics level. He had looked at her with blank eyes, angry perhaps, but holding the anger in. “You’ll need these,” he’d said, his face flat.

Even though they were in a crowd, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips, and then she had said “Take care,” meaning the words as a separation.

His response had been “See you soon.” And then a glance away, and then more words. “It will be like it was. You need me.”

He had turned and left immediately. Since then, she and Ani had been moved three times, and now they sat in what amounted to a conference room in the middle of the logistics level. She wanted to be back with her own people, with Marcelle and Onor and even The Jackman’s hard looks, but she had to content herself with sending them love notes. This would be her third recorded message.

She started in. “People of hard work on this ship, people of the robot repairs and the water reclamation and the trash recycling and the gardens that feed us all. I have not been there beside you for a little while, but my heart is there. My hope is with you.
The
Creative Fire
needs you at this moment. It needs your heart and your bravery, your hope and your hard work.

“We cannot stop the tasks that have been set before us. We cannot stop keeping the
Fire
running, for it is truth that without us the ship will die. But it is time for
our
contribution to be recognized. It is time to fight for
our
rightful place among the decision makers.

“I sat beside Owl Paulie and I learned of our history. I listened to the words of Lila Red the Releaser and I learned how the people in power are afraid of you, and that it is fear that drives them to lock us up, to beat us, to kill us.

“I have also sat with people who wear red and blue and green uniforms and who are
on our side
. They are also workers. They take the things we grow and make and they measure these things and ensure that they are distributed back. Many of them strive to give us fairness even though what we get is not often fair.”

She wished she could see them. Their faces. She continued speaking to the audience in her head. “My message is simple. Those of us who want equality—and I know it is you, it is all of you who hear these words—we must identify ourselves. We must obtain and wear the colors of
The
Creative Fire
all together like a painting of unity. For now, these colors must be shared only with those who we know share our dreams and our goals, with those who want freedom from the people who hold us down and take our production with no return or even appreciation. Our day will come soon, and I will come back among you, and I will encourage you. Not because I’m different from you, but because I’m like you.”

She stopped there, thumbing off the sound, and leaned back.

Colin reached for the gear to take it from her head, but she waved him away.

“What else is there to say?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I need to go to them. I’m tired of hiding. After the meeting tonight I
am
going back home.”

“I don’t think that’s smart,” he said. “You’ll be caught.”

“And I won’t be caught here?” she snapped.

“I want you to stay with me.”

She took the headset off and paced. “I will not trade my freedom for another man. I can’t.” She looked at him. He had been fairer with her than Fox, had taken nothing. They weren’t lovers even though rumor said so, and even though she felt him want her, and sometimes she felt the same heat. This was the first time she had seen him in two days. “I wouldn’t be free with you. Perhaps we can go to dinner when this is all over, and then we can discuss what we might want to do.”

Of course that was a lie. Everything would change once the fight started in earnest, and then she would be dead, or they would be busy until they arrived at Adiamo. It was not a big lie to tell; she might enjoy dinner with him if such impossibility ever happened. Or more. But she didn’t need anything from Colin that he wasn’t giving her without sex.

Ruby leaned over him and kissed his forehead. He spent his time organizing people like she spent hers organizing messages, but it wouldn’t be enough. Colin could never capture the attention of the people on gray.

She wasn’t entirely sure that she could.

KJ and Ani came in, and Colin left, trailing a hand across her shoulder yet again, trying to leave her with a promise she couldn’t return and wasn’t sure she wanted to. “The message will go out now?” she asked.

“Of course,” he said.

Hopefully he wasn’t lying. Her attention slid to her slender wardrobe as she waited for Ani.

An hour later she was ready, her hair done up on top of her head with Ani’s clips and a new shawl Ani had brought for her lying across her shoulders. She drank tea laced with mint to calm her throat and then stood up at the appointed time and let KJ lead her and Ani through the warrens of the ship.

44: The Meeting

Onor swept through the corridors near the meeting place, an exercise room in logistics that had gone unused since the
Fire
had last circled a planet. He looked for anything out of the ordinary, even a robot in the wrong place or any bit of trash that made no sense.

Joel had designed this meeting. He’d chosen the space. It would be a dangerous moment, when so many people who supported Joel would be gathered in one place. Onor didn’t yet know who would be there, but curiosity kept him moving through his new duties, and he checked and double-checked everything, trying to be so precise that Penny would approve.

Confident that no hidden threats existed, Onor went back to wait beside Joel along with three of his other bodyguards. They joked, clearly as nervous as he was. Or almost.

Joel had mentioned Ruby in passing, asking a strange, dark-haired man named Colin to be sure that she arrived to begin the meeting. More than a meeting. The call to arms, the beginning.

Joel hadn’t said so, but Onor was certain it was the start of a conflict that would spread out across the
Fire
and go on until an outcome was decided. It felt as if the whole ship had become pregnant with tension and needed the violence of birth.

Joel himself did not look nervous. He stood among his three closest advisors, drinking cups of stim, the choice of drink the only sign Onor could see of how seriously Joel took this evening. On a typical night, the men would sip still and strategize. Even now, they laughed together, apparently telling jokes, the picture of calm.

When it was time, Onor and the other guards preceded Joel through the door and down the hall. As they neared the door, the first beats of “Homecoming” sounded. Onor began to sing as Ruby did, opening the door at the beginning of the second line. “No stars shine inside
Fire
’s skin.”

As expected, there were close to a hundred people. Ruby stood on stage and looked toward the door. He saw her recognize him, her green eyes flashing welcome and her smile broadening.

She was dressed in a pure blue uniform and a red shawl.

Of course, he was wearing blue, too. But the borrowed shirt smelled of someone else and fit him loosely across the shoulders, even if it did have his own rank insignia on it, bestowed by Joel.

Ruby’s clothes had been made to show her off.

She’d grown taller, fitter. Her hair curled suggestively around her ears and hugged her neck. He felt as if he had stood still while she had gone through years of change, as if she were now older than him. The pride he felt at helping Joel had left, and he was only lovelorn and a bit lost. He shook himself, remembering his duty, going to stand by his boss.

Joel watched Ruby with narrowed eyes. “You know her,” he said.

Again not a question. Onor nodded and kept watching the crowd, trying to keep his focus on Joel’s safety.

“She is good for us. She is giving us the gray levels, and with them, we may win.”

“It puts her in danger,” Onor said, trying to decide if a tall man dressed in red was looking too closely at Joel.

Joel laughed and slapped Onor on the back. “After she sings, I’ll talk. After I talk, will you introduce us?”

Onor swallowed. “Of course.” It would get him near Ruby. He looked for Fox, but didn’t see him. Colin—a man Onor had delivered two messages to—stood protectively behind her, and almost everyone in the room looked like they wanted a piece of her, lusted after her. A few ignored her or frowned, or talked in low tones in spite of the fact that Ruby was singing. Onor marked all of those for special watching, or to remember later in case he saw them again.

Ruby sang three songs and then bowed. The audience called out the names of songs she had sung already. She stood quietly on stage with her head down until the room grew still, and then she spoke with no microphone. Her voice carried perfectly, filling even the corners of the large room. “Thank you,” she called out. “I am pleased that my songs please you. But we aren’t gathered to hear me. I’d like to turn the stage over to a man far more important. I, too, came here to hear Joel North. In fact, I came here hoping to meet him.” Her cheeks flushed red, and she walked toward Joel, who stood stock still until Onor gave him a small push.

Joel waved her away from him and said, “No. Not yet. Sing ‘The Owl’s Song’ for us one more time and then I’ll speak.”

She moved into the song so smoothly it felt like a practiced movement, as if the two of them danced for the audience. Joel stood close to Onor the entire time Ruby sang. His face showed no emotion, but his focus felt so intense it frightened Onor.

When Ruby finished, a full beat of time passed, and then Joel took the stage from her and led a standing ovation, his hands clapping as loud and long as anyone’s.

Ruby came and gave Onor a hug, taking all of his attention from the room and drowning Joel’s opening remarks in the new ways she smelled of fruit and health and a bit of sweet sweat. She stood beside him for a few moments and then squeezed his hand and went to stand next to Colin. Onor was almost glad to have her a little bit away so that he could focus on watching for dangers in the audience.

He realized he’d missed most of the talk just as Joel uttered his last few sentences, “We can win, together. All of us, workers and logistics and peacers, all on one side. That is what we must make so, what we must be sure happens. And then, we will win our freedom. We will.”

A woman at the back stood and clapped, then another, and then half the room was clapping. Maybe more. The people who didn’t clap for Joel weren’t generally the same as the ones who didn’t like Ruby’s singing, and Onor was losing track. He shook it off as he and three others stood behind Joel in a half ring, watching as Joel shook hands with each one of the men and women in the room, a rhythm that allowed a few sentences with each as the prior person left. This way, they sent a trickle out into the hallways, steady but uneven.

Onor envied the way Joel remembered names and faces, even the names of people’s daughters or parents. He had an unlimited well of social trivia that rose in him and spilled out just the right way to bring tears, laughter, and determination into the eyes of those he spoke to.

This was the first time Onor had seen it used with a whole room of people, and he felt awed by the man he’d come to love being beside even after such a short time.

Onor shut the door behind the last stranger. That left only Onor and a handful of other bodyguards, Ruby and Joel, a tall, dark warrior of a woman named Ani, a silent, perfect man named KJ, and Colin.

Ani had taken up a position close to Ruby, protective of her back.

Onor approved.

Colin spoke first. “It’s begun.”

Joel nodded and glanced at Ruby. “You should go to the cargo bars with Colin.”

She nodded, and then she smiled broadly, as if lit by a fresh idea. “Can I take Onor with me? For protection?”

Colin stepped closer to her.

“You will be safe with Colin,” Joel said.

Ruby straightened her shoulders. “Colin will have other things to do. I want a protector I know.” She glanced at Colin. “Know well. Who won’t be running an empire, but only there for me.”

Onor struggled to bite his tongue. He had wanted to be with Ruby ever since they were separated, but now he also needed to be beside Joel.

Ani looked like she wanted to say something pretty badly, but she had the discipline to resist the urge. Joel glanced back and forth between Ruby and Onor, as if looking for some sign they had planned this in advance. Onor sat as straight as he could and looked around the room so it would appear he wasn’t hanging desperately on the answer.

The Ruby he had seen last would have kept demanding. But this Ruby stood still in the silence until Joel laughed out loud and slapped Colin on the back. “Let her bring her friend. We can always use a go-between.”

Colin looked unhappy but didn’t argue.

Joel spoke to Onor. “Do you want to stay with her?”

He swallowed. “I’ll do what you’d most like me to do.”

“Report on this meeting and then go to Colin.”

Colin was in the room now. So what did go to him mean? “Excuse me please, where?”

One end of Joel’s mouth quirked up. “To the cargo bars, of course.”

The Jackman would know where to find him. But The Jackman would want Onor to provide more information than he had learned so far, and he could already see the look on The Jackman’s face when he heard that Onor had gone off to be with Ruby instead of Joel.

Ruby gave him a slow wink that nobody but he and maybe Ani could see. “Hurry.”

Joel cleared his throat and stopped Onor with a look. “Tell people—our people—all of them that you see. Tell them it’s time. Tell them we’re taking our rights back.”

Onor went, with a last glance at Ruby. A heavy dose of worry hovered behind her smile. He wondered if he was the only person in the room who knew her well enough to see the worry.