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“Describe them. Male or female? What were they wearing?”
The request surprised me, but I answered right away. “All male. Wearing gray.”
He clasped me by both arms and gave me a slight shake. “And? I need more than that. Significant characteristics. Hair, skin, eye color? Scars?”
“They had hair and skin. I only was close enough to really notice one person’s eyes. Blue.”
“Are you being intentionally stupid?” he rumbled with annoyance.
I was annoyed too. “I don’t know what you want from me. Everything happened so fast. I don’t even understandwhathappened. I just want to go back to my habitat and sleep and wake up and go to work.”
He dragged me higher and held me in front of his featureless mask. “Why are you on this transport? Why didn’t you get off at your assigned workstation?”
“I’m marked.”
As if he thought I lied, he dropped me and spun me again. Fingers clad in gloves roughly shoved the hair from my nape.
“Fuck.”
A bad word that would have gotten me three days in solitary.
He released me. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” Because asking questions of a Red really seemed like a great idea.
“To the Consulate. Like you’re supposed to.” A flat reply as he turned from me.
“But how can we get there? The transport is broken.” And given the damage I could perceive, it would take a while to repair. Could it be moved out of the way to allow passage for another?
“We’re not taking the transport. Come with me.” He marched, and with little choice, I followed. Emerging from the transport, I froze for a step as I took in the chaos that had expanded while I’d been hiding.
Now, not just steam hissed from the pipes. One sprayed fluid, while another oozed something slimy. A fire danced up another pipe, a pair of stocky Grays aiming foam at it to contain it.
Inert and injured red-armor-clad bodies had been lined up in a neat pile. The Grays appeared to be lying where they’d fallen, each with at least a pair of Enforcers kneeling and taking images. I counted five, but two didn’t appear to be from the group I’d seen boarding the transport. Blue Eyes didn’t appear to be among the dead.
“Move!” the Enforcer in his dark red armor barked.
My feet stuttered into motion. “What happened? Who were those Grays?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
“Terrorists.”
I didn’t recognize the word. “What is that?”
“People who resort to violence to get their way.”
“What do they want?”
He paused and turned to look at me. “What all the Caves’ citizens want. To live above ground.”
My puzzlement must have shown.
He shook his helmeted head. “You have no idea what I’m talking about. They must have found you somewhere deep.”
“Who is ‘they’?” I got more confused.
“You’ll see soon enough.” He turned and began striding again, meaning I had to almost run to keep up. It seemed best to obey. I wouldn’t want to be like the Gray we passed, cut almost in half, his face a rictus of surprise and pain.
The Enforcer didn’t slow until we reached a tunnel. Wide and smooth, it held several four-wheeled vehicles, some pulling trailers with seating. It explained how the Enforcers had gotten here with the transport broken and blocking the other tunnel.
