“We have our own devices too.”
He must have guessed what she was thinking. “Oh. I thought — “
“You thought we all huddled in caves banging rocks together. Which,” he added, “is exactly what we do. Occasionally we find a machine from the days of our unenlightened past and we take it swiftly to our new overlords before we are hopelessly contaminated.”
Sunniva narrowed her eyes. He was teasing her, definitely, and testing her as well.
“You seem to have lost your rock,” she said sweetly.
One corner of Marcus’s mouth twitched. “It must be in my other clothes. How careless.”
She bit her lip to keep herself from smiling back. “Perhaps you need more than one.”
“Indeed.” Marcus finished the last connection and held out the integrator. “My lady.”
Sunniva took it. The banter had made her more curious about the sort of person Marcus was, each glimpse more intriguing. Not that she needed to find him any more attractive, and they did have to work. “If we go now, we should be able to do the other two sensors today.”
The next installation went faster with Marcus’ assistance, and they snatched a few moments for lunch as the crawler wound its way along the trail to the final point.
When they arrived at the pinnacles Marcus swung himself over the side rail and turned around slowly, although his posture held little of the tense alertness he’d had when scanning their earlier surroundings. The great pillars of stone cast mysterious shadows in the afternoon sun.
>
“They look like ruins.”
Marcus put down his box. “Remnants of the once great human empire. I used to come here all the time as a kid.”
Sunniva wanted him to keep talking. “To play?”
Marcus nodded. “We’d have these massive dramatic battles that would go on for hours. Even after Rafe got sick, although then they were less exhausting.” His gaze sharpened, fixing on Sunniva. Seeing her for what and who she was. “I haven’t been here since the curfew.”
“I’m sorry.” Her apology felt thin and pointless. Sorry for taking your world, but you can’t have it back. Marcus turned away.
With the final installation done and the shadows deepening, Sunniva picked her way back through the rocks to the crawler. The thought of heading back to the aerie and Giels slowed her steps.
One more flight. Her dragon seized her chance. It’s been so long.
You flew this morning.
Before that. Don’t you want to make sure everything’s all right?
She did, and her dragon knew it. Just up and back, Sunniva warned. She told Marcus to give her twenty minutes and finish packing the crawler, and then walked back towards the installation. It wasn’t fair to shift in front of him again, she told herself, better for both of them to do it this way. Already sparking, her skin sensitized to the slightest changes in the air currents around her, Sunniva shed her clothes and stretched into her transformation, her silhouette lengthening against the rocks. She sat back on her haunches and extended her wings, preparing to launch herself upwards.
A flash of silver. Searing pain burned across her left wing, from leading edge to trailing claw, and her dragon screamed.
Attack! Her vision blurred with the pain. Her bracelet sent an unneeded alert and mobilized the mesh to begin repairing the injury as Sunniva brought her wings down, ignoring the ripping pain, and forced herself up into the air. Where? She pivoted as she rose, tail lashing, and scanned the rocky hillside. Anything could have been hiding behind the long columns of grey stone.
Another flash. Sunniva flipped herself upwards, end-over-end, and the blast hit the rock behind her in a splintering crash. This time she caught a glimpse of something metallic, moving fast and low. She back-winged up, trying to get enough height to see clearly. It wasn’t using wheels or tracks, whatever it was. Her wing throbbed, although the mesh was now controlling the worst of the pain.
There! Her dragon spotted their attacker. Through her eyes Sunniva could see a faint ripple of power between two pillars. She went higher, curving round so that the afternoon sun would be behind her, making it difficult for whatever it was to keep her in sight. Height would keep her safe.
She needed more than safety. Sunniva folded her wings and dove straight down, presenting the smallest target she could. Another silver beam shot past her, sizzling the air without making contact. Something dodged between the pillars and up the hillside, slipping under the shelter of the rocky outcrop she’d discarded earlier as unsuitable.
Not a Dreki, nor a human — a machine of some sort, fast and maneuverable, the cylindrical metal carapace splotched with green and gray paint for camouflage. And although it was keeping low to the ground, it was flying, on two stubby wings.
Mine, her dragon hissed, back in control. She pulled up her back legs and flattened the dive to bring her down at just the right angle and height to snatch one of the smaller boulders from the ground, without stopping or shedding much of her speed. Gaining height again, claws gripping the stone, she circled once high over the ledge that now hid her quarry.
Whatever it was, the machine didn’t seem to be able to shoot through rock. She dropped the boulder.