Wanderer

Chapter 2-3

The hangar bay the Glimmer was resting in reinforced Kaira’s impression of the station. In places it went well beyond untidy and dirty and into downright dangerous. As she and Tarkus had left the Glimmer they’d passed a gaping hole dropping at least forty metres with only some light tape at waist height to keep people from falling in.

The passageways beyond the hangar weren’t much better. The main lighting was patchy, and in places non-existent for long stretches. Dim emergency lighting had been rigged up in the longest of them but, judging from the sparks and smell of ozone, that certainly hadn’t been done by anyone who was qualified. Or even vaguely competent.

“You bring me to all the nicest places,” she murmured to Tarkus.

“How will you appreciate the truly nice ones if you haven’t seen ones like this?” he replied.

“Hah! So where are we going?”

“We need someone we can talk honestly to about what we need. If I’d been here before and had contacts that might have been a possibility, but I haven’t and I don’t. Well, there’s no contacts I’ve spoken to before, but there are contacts of a sort.”

“Are you working hard at being obtuse or is it just coming naturally?”

Tarkus laughed.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s not a secret. We’re going to the Church of Unity’s temple.”

For a moment Kaira stumbled, her balance feeling as if it had been swept out again but this time from surprise.

“The Church? Why would they be involved in… in what we need to ask about?”

“They won’t be! They definitely won’t be! But they might know who is, or at least who we could safely speak to as a starting point.”

“I suppose. Sister Alacias was certainly very friendly and helpful back on Solace Retreat.”

“She was, but I wouldn’t judge the Church generally by her and that station. They’re unusual in many ways. But I’m sure that those who are here will help us.”

Kaira didn’t reply. Tarkus sounded anything but sure. But without any better ideas herself she figured they had no real choice.