Page 11 of House Divided
All that seemed to be happening today was that the mountains seemed to be just as far away as they had been when they had started to walk.
After what seemed like an eternity, Enoch called for another break. By this point, Madeline was sweating freely and was glad of the opportunity to drink deeply from her canteen. She sat down on a flat rock. It hurt her punished ass, but she was too tired to care.
It was irrationally annoying to Madeline that Enoch had still not even broken out into a sweat. Even though she might not be a hiker, Madeline hit the gym regularly and considered herself to be in pretty decent shape. Yet, next to Enoch, she was sure that she looked like she was dying.
“How the hell are you doing this?” she asked him in frustration. “I mean, I take care of myself. But next to you, I look like I’m fresh off the couch!”
Enoch looked at her appraisingly. “You’re actually doing quite well, considering the weight of your pack and the lighter air,” he observed. “You shouldn’t compare yourself to me.”
Madeline’s brief flush of pleasure at his praise was quickly erased by her irritation at his arrogance. “What do you mean, I shouldn’t compare myself to you?” she demanded. “Who made you the champion trans-planet trekker?”
Enoch blinked. “The biolabs of Samarra, actually,” he replied. “My body has been engineered to adapt to low-oxygen and high-gravity environments, among other things.”
“Wait…really?” asked Madeline, surprised.
“Yes. The Onin systems were always way ahead of everyone else when it came to biotechnology. The punitive jealousy of your Alliance was one of the major factors to precipitate our desire for independence,” Enoch said.
Madeline shook her head. “Hold on. That’s a lot of information in a very short time. So you’re saying that your body has been bioengineered, that the Onin systems were biotech geniuses, and the Galactic Alliancepushedyou into rebellion?”
Enoch eyed her for a moment. “Break’s over.” He resumed setting the pace.
“That’s your answer? ‘Break’s over,’” pressed Madeline, imitating Enoch’s brusque tone. She watched his shoulders tense briefly then drop as the man kept marching. He seemed to increase his pace slightly, leaving Madeline breathless and unable to ask any further questions.
So, in the absence of conversation, they continued to walk, hiking steadily across the grasslands. Occasionally, a breeze would blow up, sending the grasses into a rustling shimmer of sight and sound and offering a blessed coolness as they walked. The two suns rose into the sky, confirming that they had begun their journey in the late morning.
By the time Enoch called for their third break, Madeline was close to exhausted. Her body was soaked in sweat. Enoch looked at her appraisingly then unclipped a canteen from his pack, different from the one he had been using.
“Drink this,” he ordered, handing it to Madeline. “You need to replace the minerals and electrolytes your body is losing.”
She took a deep drink of the flavored liquid. It was wonderfully refreshing. She handed it back to Enoch, saying sarcastically, “I suppose your body doesn’t need those things?”
The man just gave her a look then took a drink from the canteen himself.
Great,she thought.Every time I try to lock horns with this guy, I look like an idiot.Another part of her asked,why are you trying to lock horns with one of the most notorious killers in the galaxy?
Madeline didn’t have an answer to that.
Enoch reattached the canteen to his pack. “Keep your eyes and ears open for any sign of water,” he said. “We’re carrying enough for a couple of days, but it would be nice to have a source.”
“Do we have a purifier?” asked Madeline, suddenly aware that she really didn’t know what all they had brought with them.
Enoch nodded. “We have all of our basic survival kit,” he said. “The portability of survival tech has made some remarkable advances since the last time I had to do this.”
“When was the last time you had to do this?” asked Madeline curiously.
Enoch was silent for a moment then said, “After the carpet bombing of Samarra.”
Yet again, Madeline felt the twist of embarrassment in her stomach.
“Look,” she began, “I just keep putting my foot in my mouth, and—”
Enoch put up a hand. “No,” he interjected. “Please don’t apologize. You weren’t to know, and it was a perfectly natural question to ask.”
Despite herself, Madeline’s mouth twitched. “Lord Enoch Immanuel, was thatempathyyou just displayed?”
He snorted. “You have a strong spirit, I will say that for you.”
“Is that a drawback in women, where you come from?” she asked, teasing lightly.
