Free The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 by PJ Haarsma

top I let Drapling go up the chute first. I had used them before at the Center for Impartial Judgment and Fair Dealing. I stepped into the pale purple light beam and was instantly transported to the platform atop the humungous tank. I looked down at my friends, dwarfed by the size of the reservoir. I saw Odran rising up to my left inside his container. He did not use the lift. I turned and looked across the tank. The only thing I had ever seen bigger than the cooling tank was space itself.
    “Samirans are incredible beings,” Drapling said as Odran landed on the platform. “Besides being unbelievably strong, they are faithful and determined.”
    “I expect humans to share the same qualities,” Odran said. “If you can do what they say.”
    I can do it,
I said to myself, and looked at Drapling. “Does Toll always bang on the tank?” I asked.
    “It started a few rotations ago. Only Toll does it, not the other,” he replied.
    “There is another Samiran?”
    “Yes. The crystal can never stop. It must be in constant motion until it is cooled. Otherwise it will sink to the bottom of the tank and fuse with the foundation. The crystal will be contaminated and worthless.”
    “How long has Toll been doing this?”
    Odran turned and looked at me. “Almost two thousand rotations.”
    “He’s been dragging crystals around for two thousand years?”
    “Toll and the other Samiran,” Drapling reminded me.
    “No wonder he’s upset. Switzer has only worked for Weegin for one rotation, and he’s ready to jump the ring.”
    I shouldn’t have said that. Odran spun his bucket of sludge toward me and pinned me against the thin railing.
    “You wish to escape? To abandon your duty?” he said. “Keeper, you’ve given me a creature who thinks such dishonor?”
    “That’s not what I meant. . . .” I said.
    “The penalty is death. I will not hesitate to —”
    “I know. I know. No one wants to escape. Forget what I said. It was wrong of me.”
    “Odran,” Drapling said. “You know the young human’s history. You are aware of his efforts with the central computer.”
    Odran fixed his bloodshot eyes on me, searching for some sign of weakness. “That’s what worries me the most,” he mumbled, dunking into the yellow muck. When he surfaced, he was still staring at me, studying me. Sizing me up. He scared me.
    “I don’t like you,” he said, his voice thick as if there was still fluid in his mouth. “I don’t care what you’ve done in the past.”
    “I’m telling the truth,” I protested.
    Odran turned to the Keeper. “If we must do this, then lower him into the tank quickly,” he said. I saw him glance toward the others at the base of the tank. “I have more important things to do than this foolish test.”
    Lower me into the tank?
The waterline was at least five meters below me. Was he crazy?
    Even Drapling looked at him, “I have never heard of that,” he said. “Is this safe? I understand the water can . . .”
    “Safe? Since when is the safety of a knudnik so important, especially at such a crucial time as this? You yourself pointed this out.” Odran then turned and looked at me. “Don’t feel special; no one’s safety is of concern to me right now.”
    Drapling spoke quietly but sternly. “Life is always the first concern of a Keeper. It is the gift of Source. Your comments are an affront to that symbol you’ve marked on your face.”
    Odran dipped into his sludge and came up blinking but not speaking. He stared at the Keeper, his chin still in the slime. Drapling waited.
    “The Samirans are hard of hearing. They will never hear the child from this far up,” Odran spoke softly. “But even then I doubt the child will understand.”
    “We must try,” Drapling said. “Get what you need to lower the child in.”
    Odran showed me a small circular platform that hovered just above where we stood.
    “Step onto this. A small energy shield will protect you from any spray. Just try not to fall