The Diamond Deep (2 page)

He laughed. “I have no idea.”

“You're infuriating.”

“If I knew when we'd get home, I'd tell you.”

She stopped right in front of him, blocking his way. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“Be quiet. We're getting near the danger zone.”

For the next hour, they patrolled as silently as they could. They noted a pile of debris and Onor pulled out his journal and called a cleaning bot for it, but nothing more eventful happened until they slid out of the maintenance corridors and into the B-pod maintenance galley.

Ruby sat in a chair, a half-full cup of water in her hand. “There you are.”

She'd been waiting for them. She wore a flowing green shirt over gray pants and low-heeled gray boots. Her red hair had been pulled back from her face and braided on top of her head, the back left flowing over her shoulders. She looked so beautiful that he felt awkward, his cheeks hot and his tongue tied. The worst of it was that he felt sure she knew what her simple presence did to him.

Ruby rose and gave Marcelle a long hug.

He and Marcelle both waiting for Ruby to speak.

“I've got a few hours before I promised to be in common.”

“Joel said you wouldn't be here for a few days.”

Ruby ignored his comment. “Ix told me where you two were, and I thought we could be together for a bit.” She looked from Onor to Marcelle and back. “I miss how it used to be. Can you tell me how things are out here?”

Marcelle started talking so he sat back to listen.

“It's fractured. The Jackman and Conroy rousted a whole cell of true reds yesterday—I think there were seven of them. They're in lockup. But we didn't see any trouble today. The living areas feel more normal. Most of the repair and maintenance shops are back up.”

Ruby looked pleased. “Does it feel better? You know—safer?”

Marcelle got up and poured two cups of water. “We lock the reds up now. That's better than them locking us up.” She set the two glasses of water down, making a little show of taking care of Onor. “But it's hard to tell who to trust.”

Ruby leaned in and whispered, “Will you keep it secret that I'm here?”

Before they could answer, the door opened. The boy Haric led a much older man in behind him. Ben. Ben looked older than Onor remembered. His eyes were almost buried in shadowed cracks, his face framed with wispy gray hair. He moved stiffly. This man wouldn't be able to chase recalcitrant children through corridors and force them to go home. He still dressed in red, though. Ben's only concession to the new order was that he wore the multi-colored necklace Ruby had beaded him right on top of his shirt where everybody could see it. He stood for a bit, looking at Ruby curiously. “Good to see you're safe.”

Ruby took his hand, and kissed it. “You kept me that way for years.” Her voice sounded thick, almost choked.

Haric pulled a chair out for Ben and waited until the old man sat down before he looked at Ruby.

“Thank you,” she told him. “See you in common in an hour.”

Haric looked disappointed at the dismissal, but he obeyed.

After the door shut behind him, Ruby leaned over Ben, giving him a hug. “Can I get you anything?”

“No.” Ben looked pleased and awkward in Ruby's arms. “I'm glad you got my message.”

She poured him water anyway. “I wasn't sure Haric could find you.”

“He found me yesterday. I was overseeing a group of teenagers in E-pod, and it took a while to get here on the train.”

“I'm sorry. We haven't got them all repaired yet,” Ruby said. “What do you need to tell me?”

Ben gave a her a long, hard look that reminded her of how he used to look at her when she was a child. Like she was being reckless. “You should have more bodyguards with you.”

“I've got Onor.”

Not true. She'd gotten here by herself.

“You never did listen.” Ben shook his head, his eyes unfocused in remembrance. “Not one day. But you've got to be more careful than you used to be.”

“Surely I'm safe
here
,” Ruby said.

Ben leaned in toward her. “That short blue, Ellis, he's trying to make trouble for you for sure. He's stayed true.”

“Sylva's stayed true, too. She's as red as my hair, and a bitch besides.”

“So you know this? You're watching for it?” Ben asked. “That some of us might be out to hurt you?”

“Grays? My own people?”

Ben dropped his eyes, like he didn't want to tell her any more. “Lya. She's recruiting women and getting them to hate you. And Ellis and Sylva have a few, at least.”

Ruby worried her lower lip. “I didn't know they were recruiting grays.”

“I don't know how many,” Ben said. “Or exactly who.”

Ruby's eyes widened and she spat out, “Joel. What about Joel? Do they intend to hurt him?”

“I expect so.”

“Do you know about any plans?”

“Nothing specific. I'll watch for you, let you know. I want you to tell Joel, too. I couldn't get a message to him.”

“Did you try?”

“He's surrounded by keepers these days.”

Ruby gave a soft smile. “I've not taken good care of you. I'll see that Joel meets you and knows all you did.”

“Oh, I know Joel well.”

That made Onor curious, but he didn't want to interrupt. Besides, this was their lunch break, and he was hungry. He turned to open the refrigerator, half listening as Ruby chattered with Ben and Marcelle about less critical things like her songs (yes, she was writing new ones) and her mother Siri (who loved Ruby's power and tried to take credit for it). Onor found two orbfruit a bit past their prime, and some stale bread. He peeled the fruit and put the bright yellow-orange slices right on the bread to soften it, then rummaged in the cupboard for stim. The whole conversation felt surreal. If the world were the old way, Ben would be chasing them instead of bringing warnings.

How had Ruby gotten away by herself anyway? Clearly she'd come here to meet Ben.

As they finished, Ruby said, “I've got to go. Either of you coming to hear me?”

“I am,” Onor said.

“Me, too,” Marcelle added.

Good. She'd have both of them for protection.

Ruby cocked her head at Ben. “Will you come, too?”

“No.” Ben pushed himself up from the table. “I've got to start back. I'm on patrol tomorrow.”

“All right. Stay safe.”

“It's not me I'm worried about.”

Ruby gave him yet another hug, as if she were starved for it. They fell silent until the door closed.

“I bet he's lonely,” Marcelle said. “It must be tough to be an old red and have to patrol for groups of true reds or true blues.”

At least he and Marcelle hunted old enemies and not old friends.

Even though she'd only leaked her impending visit an hour ago, common was nearly full of people, and someone had found multi-colored ribbons to decorate the doorways with. Ruby remembered many of the faces in the crowded room from training or battles or concerts, or from the victory party.

A plump woman put a hand out to touch Ruby's shoulder, her eyes puffy and red with tears.

“What happened?” Ruby asked her.

“My . . . my brother died. In the fighting. Seeing you reminds me of what he died for.”

“For all of us.” Ruby leaned in and held her, appreciating her solid form. “He was brave. I'm sorry.”

A nod.

“And your name?”

“Louisa.”

The woman lifted up a hand, and held out a necklace with blue and red and gray beads on it. Ruby slid the necklace over her head, on top of three others. As she said, “Thank you,” she focused on Louisa's face, tried to memorize the way her eyes were set wide over a full mouth. Her right incisor was missing.

She would try to remember them all. These were her supporters, and the backbone of
The Creative Fire
. The people who planted and fixed and fed and cleaned.

The next person who stopped her was a dark haired girl as thin as Marcelle but with straighter hair and a wide scar across her nose, the edges still puckered and slightly pink. Her name came to Ruby from some deep haze of memory. “Hello Min. How did you get that?” She pointed to the scar, which marred a natural beauty.

“I fought for you. This is from a knife.” Min's voice held pride and determination, and her chin was high and her shoulders squared off. “They tried to cut my throat.”

“I'm glad they missed,” Ruby said, trying to keep it light.

Min responded with a laugh. “Me, too.” She looked hungry for something, but Ruby couldn't tell what.

“Can I help you?” Ruby asked.

Min hesitated. “I don't know.”

“Will you tell me if you think of anything?”

“Yes.”

Then a man Ruby knew from logistics, Harold, took her hand and she turned away from Min. He grinned at her like an old friend. Not that she had ever seen him without his smile—it was part of him. He gave her a thumbs-up, dropped another necklace over her head, and faded aside to let her through.

As she climbed up onto the stage, she spotted her aunt Daria watching the crowd. Daria gave Ruby a brief hug and pushed her to the edge of the stage.

Ruby raised her hands above her head and stood still, waiting. “My friends. My family.”

They began to call out the names of songs.

“Thank you,” she yelled over the noise. “Thank you all.”

She stood with her hands clasped in front of her until the crowd quieted.

“Thank you,” she repeated. “You helped win this fight. You gave us all more freedom. You supported Joel and you supported me.”

More clapping came at her like a wave.

She stayed silent until they quieted, a slow process that seemed to ripple outward from her to the back of the room. “I'm glad to see you.”

People kept calling out the names of her songs.

A small disturbance at the back of the room caught her attention, and she noticed Onor escorting someone out the door. She couldn't see the face of the person, or even tell if it was a man or a woman.

Onor had become efficient.

Marcelle stalked the opposite side of the room from Onor, effective, driven, and bouncy as ever. If it hadn't been the wrong moment to do it, Ruby would have burst out in happy laughter. They were all together again.

She had been going to say she needed to talk more than sing, but clearly the crowd wanted song. She closed her eyes and imagined her voice, strong and loud. “Homecoming” bubbled up in her and she started the first verse with no musical accompaniment.

 

Long and dark is our night flight

No stars shine inside Fire's skin, only

Me and you. And love. We're going home

By the time the last bits of the song faded away, the crowd looked calmer. Children perched on their parents' hips and people had moved closer, like just the one song had driven them together. They needed this, needed unity. It was the best gift she could give Joel, the best reward for his love. The support of her people.

“We are all one,” she said. “Everyone on the
Fire
is going home. We will get there soon. A week, a month, a year. Two years. We don't know. We can use the time between now and then to heal and to learn about each other.

“We're not separate anymore. If Joel can love me, if Joel can work to liberate you, then we are one ship.” If everyone believed this, it would be so. She took a single step back, lifting her arms.

The crowd cheered.

“We are one.”

They cheered again.

Onor and Daria and Haric and Marcelle paced the edges, clapping and watching, and from time to time stopping to have brief conversations.

It felt like a dance.

Someone in the crowd called out, “Sing the Owl's Song.”

She shook her head, pleased even though she refused. “This is not a time for a funeral song. It is a time for happiness.” She sang two traditionals, one about working and another about the stars. During the second one, she realized it must be from before the journey, a song from home. After all, there was no way to see stars inside the Fire. She lowered her voice so far that the sound of others singing rose above it, so the experience became a group bonding more than a concert.

Two hours passed before the crowd began to fidget between songs and the mothers of toddlers started to sneak away with unruly children. She ended the session the way she had opened it, with the chorus of “Homecoming.” She stood on the end of the stage, looking out, wishing she could hold the moment longer. “Thank you.”

They began clapping.

She stepped back, and then back again, and only then did the noise begin to dim and shift to the sounds of feet moving and whispered conversations between friends and family.

A small group of admirers caught Ruby at the end of the stage and held her there to answer questions while the rest of the room emptied. Haric stuck by her side, watching her, trying so hard to be like Onor that it made her smile.