There was some activity in the crater, even in the dark, but Tory had experience evading notice at night. Besides, she was small, and there were more than a few smaller vehicles and stacks of crates out in the crater so there were plenty of places to hide-dash-hide behind. Ekaterina had pointed out the two rovers which were scheduled to leave imminently, but once she reached them, the question became, which one to choose.
They were the same articulated type as Gurminder’s, and with identical markings as far as she could see. He had to be gone by now, she decided, remembering he’d told her the plan was to leave as soon as he unloaded his cargo, and that had been most of a day ago. Spotting movement in the darkness coming her way, Tory used her unlocking crack on the rear hatch of the furthers away rig’s last car. Despite the warning Gurminder must have given the people here, her trick still worked. It was like the bornhere’s wanted their vehicles broken into.
Light seeped through the crack in the opening hatch. Tory lifted it as much as she dared, enough to creep through and quickly closed it behind her, not wanting to risk being spotted and caught again. One the inside the rig she chose she found an empty compartment and crawled inside, this time keeping her helmet on. Even if it meant she was using up the oxygen in her tanks, Tory did not want to get found out like she had before and be discovered before it reached its destination and she could move on.
She heard the other transport start up and leave. Of course she’d choose the wrong one again. It wasn’t until she heard a voices over the suit’s radio, that she realized how wrong her choice had turned out to be. Her suit’s comm was still programmed to the last channel it had been used for, the open one the Russ used for common communications. Tory held her breath as she recognized the voices speaking over it.
“What we are doing will change the world,” a woman’s voice said. Mina Varlamov, had to be. “Just do what you are told and everything will be fine.”
“That’s what I always do,” Gurminder replied.
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What? No! How could this happen? But then, despite the fact she hated him for abandoning her, he was probably the one least likely to throw her in a locked room until whenever.
So, yeah, she was torn. Angry, but relieved.
“Then good luck and be safe. Try and return, huh.”
“I will, and maybe...?”
“Maybe.”
Okay, that last bit was kind of weird. They were speaking in the kind of way that older teens and adults spoke when they really liked each other.
The radio then went dead.
Tory heard a hatch banging closed. Then she heard and felt the rig start up, felt it lurch into motion. They were off.
Tory wondered about what to do. What did it mean that she had again chosen the same rig, that she was Gurminder’s stowaway, again. She certainly thought about pulling of her helmet, but so close to The Hole he might just turn around if he found her inside again.
Better to wait. She could stay where she was and hope he didn’t find her before they arrived at… wherever he was going, or at least wait a couple hours along so he wouldn’t be able to turn back. She could try to convince him to help her again, but should she even try? Gurminder had betrayed her before. He might do it again, even if he hadn’t seemed happy the Rus had taken her as a hostage.
In the end she opted to wait, hoping that it wouldn’t be that long before they got to where they were going, and she could find another way to get to the landing field. Unfortunately, the ride turned out to be way longer than she’d been expecting, hours and hours, and her suit’s oxygen warning began to flash and the beep alarm grew insistent. Tory pulled her helmet off. Gurminder would find her now, he had already proven he could do that, he seemed pretty diligent when it came to the meters on his console. So she sidled her way out of the compartment, walked up to the rig’s cockpit, helmet under her arm.
“Nice to see you again, Gurminder,” she said. “Long drive ahead of us?”
Gurminder turned to look at her and swore. Even though his curses weren’t that terrible, Tory tensed, but then he started shaking his head and looking up at the roof. She plunked herself down in the passenger seat, hung her helmet on the side.
“Did you really think I’d stay put,” she told him, “One of the reasons I hate this planet because everywhere I go people want to put me in a prison, and you know what I do when I’ve been put in prison? I get out. Oh, I left my pack in here. Where is it? It still has some food packets in it and your friends stole all the rest of what I was carrying. I’m so hungry!”