Broken Wings by Melanie Nilles Page A

she knew
what time it was, she could imagine him at home, or them together,
what they would be doing.
    Her heart sank from what she
missed.
    ["A rest only,"] Corsa said. ["Most of
our group patrol the perimeter for Shirukan, although it's only
temporary anyway. Every few nights, we find a new place to hide."]
She ducked beneath a low pipe. ["It keeps us alert and we stay
ahead of the Shirukan patrols."]
    ["They come looking for
you?"]
    ["Of course—watch out—"]
    Raea jumped away from a steaming vent.
["Where are we?"]
    ["Close to the water recycling plant.
The water is fresh when it's gathered, but we can't always depend
on the sky. Besides, the Ahben don't appreciate us contaminating
the ocean. Most of our liquid wastes can be recycled—usually
converted to fertilizer and shipped to the searoot
islands."]
    ["Searoot islands?"] A thrill passed
through Raea. Searoot islands—hundreds of acres of land floating in
the sky. Elis had told her about them, but to see one… She couldn't
imagine how an island could float in the sky, even supported by
massive plant roots filled with gases.
    Corsa chuckled and stopped. Her smile
shone with a glimmer of hope. ["You really have spent all your life
on Earth. You poor girl. Limited by surface dwellers…but I've heard
they have some amazing machines for getting around and they've
mastered atmospheric flight."]
    ["Faster than the speed of sound, and
they have machines for underwater too."]
    Corsa nodded her head and continued
forward without a reaction. ["Impressive. Humans have come a long
way since we started keeping a history."]
    Raea stopped. She couldn't have heard
right. ["You keep a history of Earth?"]
    ["We have to. You of all
people should realize the necessity of blending in. It's the only
world we've found where the dominant species is so close to us that
we can hide among them, or at least that Keepers and meistal can
hide."]
    Yeah, meistal. She shuddered. The word meant middle, as those
given the description were. With Starfire in their genes but no
Starburst marks to release the energy, the meistal could only transform. All
Shirukan were meistal . But were all meistal Shirukan? That was the more interesting
consideration.
    ["The rest of us are stuck here."]
Corsa pursed her lips and paused. ["I'd love to see Earth, but
we're forbidden from interfering until the world is sufficiently
space worthy and ready to know the truth about Inari. Our ancestors
learned the hard way when they started exploring."] She walked off
and followed a corner of pipe.
    Raea quickened her steps to catch up.
No doubt they learned the hard way. The Starfire had shown her
flashes of worlds it destroyed because of species abusing the power
of the entities. Where there was power, there was someone ready to
grasp it and abuse it. ["The Shirukan don't seem to
care."]
    ["No. I suppose not."] Bitterness
ground in Corsa's voice. Her wings adjusted on her back.
    Raea had learned to read Elis's moods
by the shift of his wings. Part of that came from learning Buddy's
body language. Her uncle Mike's chocolate labrador used ears, tail,
body, and teeth to make his intentions clear. Her wings probably
shifted too with her moods. It happened involuntarily.
    Corsa turned around a column of thick
pipes.
    ["Where are we going?"] The chamber
seemed to go on forever, although Raea saw ahead what appeared to
be a doorway into a low-ceilinged, narrow corridor.
    ["Are you hungry?"]
    Hungry? For the first time, Raea
noticed the twinge in her gut. ["A little."] She lied—at the
thought of food, her middle rumbled loudly.
    ["We have a temporary kitchen here.
You missed the midday call, but Kallara saved you a
plate."]
    Temporary kitchen nothing—no more than
a couple crates stacked as a counter with something like a
hotplate. She had expected something more impressive, like some
sort of instant cooker. She could have done more with a
microwave.
    ["It's not much. Down here, we don't
have the luxuries of living quarters."]