Free Skyland by Aelius Blythe

wondering.
    "Stop it," she whispered, echoing his own
thoughts. She reached a hand up and stroked his face, he felt her
fingers run over the hard lines of his scowl, his eyebrows still
knitted together in attempted anger. "Stop it... you look like
him..."
    "He is my father."
    "Yes, your father. Not you."
    Harper closed his eyes. He tried to relax
his face. He shook his head, trying to loosen up the muscles in his
neck, his cheeks, around his eyes. He rested his chin on the black
hair, so soft, so clean, so–
    "Harper Fields?"
    He opened his eyes. "Hm?"
    A man stood behind Zara, looking Harper
right in the eye. He was dressed in heavy cloth the color of dirt,
but the clothes were very clean, pressed with fold lines still in
them. There was a black cord around his neck, but he was not one of
the Infinite Space passengers. Harper looked around, to his right
and left there were two others dressed in the same dirt-brown
suits. Harper turned his head further and caught more figures out
of the corner of his eye, behind him. They all stared – hard,
unmoving stares fixed on him and Zara.
    "Harper Fields?"
    "Who are you?"
    "Unit 721. We came aboard from the–"
    "Came aboard? When?" He hadn't even realized
they'd stopped. The ship was huge, aside from the softly rumbling
engines, he could not feel any movement.
    "Five minutes ago. Mr. Fields–"
    "You're soldiers?" Union
soldiers...
    "Yes."
    "What do you want?"
    "To talk to you. Are you Harper Fields?"
    "How did you find me?"
    "That's a yes, then? It wasn't difficult.
You are registered as farmers. There aren't many of you on
board."
    "Of course."
    "Come with us please."
    "Why?"
    "Harper..." Zara's whisper made him looked
down at her. She pushed a little against his arms, which he'd
reflexively tightened around her. He released them just a bit and
looked back up at the soldier. He could feel a little bit of the
scowl returning to his face. He shook his head.
    "No. Look, I don't know why–"
    "Come with us. Please. This is not a
request."
    What do they want? Harper felt his
brows tighten even more and his frown deepen. He did not need to
pretend to be annoyed this time.
    "Harper..." Zara's whisper floated up to him
again. Then she turned to the soldiers. "What do you want?"
    "We just want to ask him some questions
ma'am. That's all. He'll be fine with us."
    Right.
    Harper did not share his father's hatred of
those outside the farms of Skyland, but he didn't trust them
either. Still, it did not look as if there were much choice. And
better he go now, than risk violence here with Zara at his
side.
    "Just me?" he asked.
    "Yes, sir."
    He let his arms drop to his sides. Zara took
a half-step away, but stood on tip toes to look him in the eye. For
a second she rested her cheek against his, then brushed a kiss
across his jawbone and stepped away.
    "It's okay..." she crooned.
    A reassurance to herself or to him, Harper
didn't know.

 

    Chapter
Eleven
    in which there is
tea ...
     
    The tiny ships looked like ants. Next to the
towering ships of the city they were like toys, like a child's
flight–training toy, powerless, slow, barely able to get off the
ground. But they weren't. They'd flown in like bullets from space,
like an alien hail of bullets.
    And the chair maker watched.
    Not through the window. Through the tea.
    The cup on the window sill was worn, like
everything on this planet, the china roughened by sand. The city
lights glinted off the brown water inside, and in the glint, the
hail of bullet-ships was reflected.
    And the chair maker watched.
    The tugging on his arm was getting really
rather annoying.
    "Your tea is getting cold." The professor
was starting to sound like a toddler's school teacher –
repetitious, dull, simple. "Your tea is getting cold."
    The chair maker looked down at his elbow to
the persistent hand tugging at his sleeve.
    "I don't... I don't need it..."
    "Yes, yes you do. Come on, now have a drink.
You don't want to die of thirst now, do you? Not when you