The Broken Third (Digitesque Book 4) by Guerric Haché

Author:Guerric Haché [Haché, Guerric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fantasy, Space Opera, fantasy, Science Fiction
Published: 2018-02-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

After a brief, linguistically incomprehensible conversation with these greeters, Turou led Ada and Elsa away into Guwenhua. The familiarity was unnerving. The walls and buildings were free of the banners and writing and ornamentation that cluttered other colonial cities. Much of Guwenhua was simple stone, wood, and clay, interspersed with blocks of bright paint or lacquer. It was quiet . Ada wasn’t sure if these echoes of the Institute felt comfortable or oppressive, but it was definitely strange.

Turou brought them to a long, stone building; both floors featured a long gallery open to the elements facing the courtyard, and as he led them up onto the second floor gallery she realized the series of doors here must be individual rooms. He led them to one in particular, leading into a small room with a simple bed, a few wall shelves packed with books, and a small technological device built into one side. The room looked like it should have been a complete rectangle, but one of the back corners was walled off, likely concealing a bathroom. It was perhaps the most uncluttered place Ada had seen in a long time. “Is this yours?”

Turou grimaced, fidgeting with his very short hair. “Yes. I asked about getting you beds, but… They just want to pretend you’re not here. Any unusual activity might be noticed.”

Elsa grumbled. “Ada being here is unusual.”

“I know. Frankly, I don’t think they like this at all. You’ll have to rough it for now, and I might need to leave to allay any suspicions. The only good news is that nobody reported me missing - apparently they thought I spooked after the stream and biked into the woods on Freyja.” He yawned. “I’m not that skittish, am I? ”

The lone window’s thin wooden lattice allowed something approaching daylight to filter through, but Elsa and Turou both had bags under their eyes. Ada realised they had been awake for almost an entire Earth day now, capping it off with hiking. She didn’t need rest right away, but it never hurt to catch some extra sleep. “You two want to rest?”

Elsa glanced to the bed. “Three people won’t get any actual rest in that.”

She was right, but somebody soon arrived and handed Turou a set of blankets, pointedly avoiding eye contact with anyone. Turou offered his bed to Elsa and, after trading polite refusals and insistences, lay down on the floor; they were both asleep in minutes. Ada lay down on a blanket folded over the stone, staring up at the bare ceiling, listening to the world outside. Wind rustled through leaves, occasional patters of rain came and went, voices swept past outside. After some quiet time, she realized that for the first time since arriving in the Union, she had space to breath.

How long would that last?

Focusing on the relative calm around her put her to sleep soon enough; but sleep within a day of the last sleep was never as long or as deep, and Chang’e’s slowly brightening sky just made it worse.

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