Or so he thought. Kel was turning out to be somewhat more mercurial than he’d initially suspected he’d be when Goa got him into the south . Sure those first few furtive nights together should have given him the idea, but Abek wasn’t stupid. The boy wasn’t perfect, just better than the rest of the youths he’d considered.

From the dome they were able to survey the region. It was a bit obscured by some cold mist and blowing snow, but there were enough sites to keep them busy. And inside the domes it was warmer, or at least out of the wind.

They discovered an old security center at the heart of the complex, and although it was half blasted from some ancient battle there were still parts of the structure which was intact.

They were working on prying open a thick, if rusted, metal door when the subject of Devlin came up again.

“So… did you do the things we’ve done with him?” Kel wanted to know.

Goa gave up for a moment, pulled his metal pry bar out, sighed, looked back into the questioning eyes of his partner.

“Not exactly.”Goa shrugged. He now knew it was an itch the kid was going to scratch from time to time. “Things aren’t quite the same. He was older than me.”

“Older than you?”

Abek guessed he was about as old a gregga as the kid had ever seen.

“I knew him a long time ago,” he admitted.

“What happened to him?” Kel wanted to know.

“Didn’t make a trip,”Goa told him. “Look buddy, he’s not that important. Not anymore, not for years.”

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“Did you think of him when you’re with me?”

“What?” Abek asked. “No. Why should I? When I’m with you, I think of you, kid.”

He turned back to the task at hand. Why did some always want to bring up that kind of subject when there were more important things to be doing?

“Do you really think I should believe you?” Kel demanded, then started walking away again.

Goa shook his head, tried the door again. No, it was rusted shut. He might have to use some explosive tril. He didn’t like to. Not without knowing what was on the other side would be worth it.

He looked back at the kid, who was striding back through the ruined work room, kicking up the moldy debris that was scattered in lumps on the dusty floor.

“Well,” he yelled back, “I could just pick up and move on, if that’s what you want. Although this probably isn’t the place for it.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kel replied still walking away. The sound of his footsteps changed as he walked.

That meant trouble.

“Hey buddy,” Abek warned. “Be careful. Come on back.”

There was something wrong with the surface Kel were walking on; a hollow echo accompanying his steps.

“Or what?” Kel turned around, an accusing expression on his face. “Or you’ll high-tail it?”

“No,”Goa started moving towards him. “Get over here, the floor you’re on isn’t good.”

The hollow sound turned to cracking. He ran forwards as the younger man began to fall. Kel scrambled towards him as the floor beneath him collapsed.

Goa had seen this sort of thing happen before, and he had recognized the danger in enough time. He leapt towards the kid, slid on the floor, stopped and leaned down, reaching out with his long arms to catch the younger man’s flailing hands. He caught one, held tight, hoping he wouldn’t be pulled down with the heavier Reklini. The floor beneath his boots stayed solid thankfully, and he was able to pull the scrambling Kel back up to safely. It wasn’t easy, what with the kid grasping onto whatever he could reach, and the two of them ended up on the floor with the kid having crawled up Goa’s now ripped trousers and finished panting and shaking as he held fast to Abek’s coat, his heavy weight now pressing down on his chest.

Goa patted Kel’s back, worked on coaxing the kid back from hysteria.

“What do you think now?” he asked. “That I don’t think you’re an important partner now?”

The kid responded by shaking his head vigorously.