Page 1 of Mongrels United
Chapter One
Grady had heard rumors about Dere Street over the last couple of years. Not enough of them for her to look into it, though. Mere whispers, spoken from the corners of mouths, or speculated about as “can’t possibly be true.” As most people on the ship were careful about what they said in front of the Captain’s Chief of Staff, one or two drips of rumor probably meant there were even more out there, when she wasn’t around to hear them.
Now she knew the rumors were true. She sidled between clumps of people, keeping Kailash’s back in sight and fighting with the impulse to grab his hand so they weren’t separated.
She had never considered herself a coward, but her belly was cramping with a visceral fear that kept her heart pumping and every nerve on alert.
Dere Street was the name given to the event, rather than the location, Grady assumed. Although there had to be a relationship to the location, too, and she would look it up, later.
Illicit bars and sub-surface gatherings were part of the underbelly of life upon theEndurance, but she had never heard of a temporary bar—or gathering, or party, or whatever this was—taking place inside the Field of Mars. Although, technically, it wasn’t exactlyinthe Field, but in the primary lane through the field of pipes, conduits, control panels and dashboards, wiring and electronics that reached up close to the roof of the ship. During the day, the forest of piping and conduits and towers were tended by mechanical engineers, while pedestrians used the four-meter-wide lane to pass through the field to reach the Capitol, or the Esquiline, which lay fore and aft to the Field.
At night, most people didn’t wander the ship.
But tonight, enough of them had made their way to the lane, that it was a struggle to get through the clumps of people with drinks in their hands, shouting at each other.
The noise was astonishing. Music thumped loudly—something with a heavy beat that echoed along the wide lane and lifted up to the roof of the ship, far overhead. It belted out among the pipes and service boxes of the Field itself.
Many of the people who were drinking were also dancing. Their drinks were in free-fall pouches, and they bounced and swayed to the beat while talking to others.
Service bots were serving the drinks, which added to the traffic in the lane. The pouches rested on trays fitting on top of the waist-high bots, and no one appeared to be paying for them.
It wasn’t the noise or the drinking that made her wary. It was the quality of the people squashed into the lane. Theylookeddangerous, although she couldn’t exactly say why.
Perhaps it was the way they kept looking over their shoulders with suspicious glances, checking anyone who came too close to them. Or the way they were dressed. Worker’s overalls on some of them, dark free-file garments for others, lots of jackets with internal pockets—which some of them would reach into with a startled jerk when they saw her, before relaxing and dropping their hands once more.
No one appeared to have dressed up for an evening out, the way Grady would have if Kailash hadn’t pulled her straight out of the office. She saw unshaved chins, messy and greasy hair, ironed-in wrinkles in clothing that came from staying in one position for too long, stains and dusty boot toes.
She had let down her hair and released the clasp at the top of her shirt so she didn’t look like she was still at work, but she still looked out of place. Kailash, with his black pants and shirt and full beard, fit in with everyone else, but as his beard was trimmed, even he looked a little neater than most.
They were drawing attention, and she didn’t think that was a good thing. Grady reached for Kailash’s hand. Screw it.
She tugged on his hand and shouted, “Where is your contact? Can you see them?”
Kailash bent to speak close to her ear. “I’m looking!”
Grady was beginning to understand why Kailash had asked her to come with him, tonight. It wasn’t a place in which to be alone.
They worked their way down the lane, their pace slowing as they drew closer to the heart of the party. Event. Thing. Then she saw why their pace had slowed.
People’s backs were a thick barrier across the width of the lane. They were all facing away from her, looking at something she couldn’t see. Grady was tall for a woman, but had to stand on her toes to see through the shoulders and heads.
Two men—but she could only see their heads. They faced each other. Black, thick hair on the one with his back to her. The other had a bloody face.
Her heart gave a little jolt. They were fighting?
Kailash pulled her around the thick border of watchers, into the edge of the Field itself, stepping over horizontal pipes, and around vertical chimneys and channels. The audience thinned out because of the obstructions and suddenly, Grady could see the fight properly.
Kailash kept going and her hand pulled out of his.
The two men who were fighting were stripped to the waist. As she turned to watch, the taller of them swung his fist at the one with the bloody face. The short man swayed and the fist whizzed past his jaw. The crowd ooohed.
They were bare knuckle fighting. Probably for a monetary prize. But that would be dwarfed by the side-bets happening around the edges. She spotted members of the audience leaning toward each other, shouting in ears, making bets, changing bets. Inner wrist to inner wrist connected—the bets were placed.
The taller fighter bobbed and moved around the tight circle of space, watching his opponent, and Grady saw him properly for the first time.
He wasn’t just tall. He was solid through the shoulders, andveryfit—his thick chest muscles gleamed with sweat, which also glistened on the ridges which cascaded down to the band of his trousers. He’d spent time beneath the sunlights without his shirt, for he had a mild tan. His thigh muscles beneath the trousers were as strong as the rest of him.
Grady’s attention pulled back to his face. He hadn’t been bloodied, yet, but she could see a red bloom on the corner of his jaw which would be a deep bruise by tomorrow. He’d taken a few blows to the face.
