The Diamond Deep by Brenda Cooper

Author:Brenda Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781616148560
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2013-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Ruby stood in line and watched a man who could hire her people as surreptitiously as she could manage. After failing for three days, she had spoken to Lake and requested his help. She’d learned that this man was a longshoreman from The Great Bastard, a ferry that had come up from Lym carrying clothes, food, and livestock. It had been unloaded, and now it waited for precious metals mined from the asteroid belt out beyond the orbit of the Diamond Deep. That was work that didn’t need the ability to interface with the Diamond Deep’s systems. Her people had a prayer of doing it.

She studied the man. Tall. Deeply muscled for a spacer, his biceps surely a result of long days of heavy labor. Paintings of trees covered his body, each leg a forest, his arms turned to branches carrying blue birds hidden amongst fall foliage.

Beside her, Haric tried to stand as tall as he could. She had spent precious credit to bring Conroy as well, as an example of the strongest men from the Fire. Not that Conroy had any size compared to the tree-man. He was big if Onor stood next to him, or Haric, or Ruby. But Conroy to the longshoreman was like Haric to Conroy.

She watched him accept three workers and reject two. Not horrid odds, but not great. When he gestured them forward Ruby had to look up to meet his eyes. “We are from the interstellar ship that just came back. We have many excellent workers, and we would love a chance to help you.”

He smiled, and for a moment she felt hope.

“I am looking for experience.”

She swallowed. “How will we get experience if no one teaches us?”

“How will I get my ship unloaded with people who know nothing?” He started to wave them away.

“Take two of us. That’s all. They can teach the others.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, the tattoos of leaves and birds rippling as he moved. “I’ll take you.”

Before she could accept, Haric put a hand on her arm. She remembered her promises to Joel. “Take me and Conroy.” She pointed at Conroy.

He laughed. “I don’t need strength, I need experience. Now get out of the way.”

She stepped aside. They stood against a wall and watched at the man hired the next two people in line and then dismissed the line. So close.

“It’s almost as if we’re being blackballed,” Conroy mused.

“What?” Haric asked.

“As is someone has told them not to hire us.”

“I hope not,” Ruby mused. Would Koren go that far?

“Now what?” Haric asked.

“We keep trying.”

“Most of the people who can hire us have already gone for the morning.”

“So what? If we don’t start finding work, we’ll starve. We have people who worked on the gardens on the Fire. Let’s find a place for them. Surely that’s not skilled labor.”

Ruby sat in the small kitchen with SueAnne beside her. SueAnne sat in the same wheeled chair, which she’d taken to using most of the time. Her fingers worked, twisting colorful cloth to make belts.

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