“How can you say that about your son?”
Driesen grimaced again. “Don’t you think I’ve tried to protect him? I’ve done everything I could. Hired bodyguards. Disguised our identities. Made secret deals with other republics. But Bluewater is different. What it doesn’t own, it buys.”
“Kai said there was a river.”
Driesen’s laugh was like a half-formed cough. “There is no river.”
I looked at him but saw nothing funny. Kai raised his head from my shoulder, as if he wanted to say something but he didn’t have the strength.
“Kai said he would take me there.”
“That was just a story.”
“A story?” I managed.
“We told it to keep people away.”
“From what?”
The jet banked hard, and my stomach rose into my chest. Kai clenched my arm, and at first I thought he was frightened; then I realized he was holding me because he thought I was.
“Idiots are shooting at us,” said Sula.
Hundred of tracer bullets lit the sky around the jet. I peered out the window. We were thousands of meters above a ruined city that was no doubt controlled by vigilantes or mercenaries. A downed jet would be a real prize, its captured crew a treasure in ransom. Sula banked hard again, then climbed swiftly. The tracers disappeared, and my stomach settled. Kai let go of my arm; his fingers left fine red marks on my skin.
Driesen was watching as Kai settled back against my shoulder. Then his expression softened, and he looked merely quizzical. “We were drilling for water in a virgin aquifer,” he said.
“The aquifers have all been tapped,” said Ulysses gruffly.
“No,” said Driesen. “Not all of them. There’s confined aquifers sit below a surface aquifer. Men drain the water they see but don’t realize there’s more water below. It takes real skill to find the water. It takes a gift—like Rikkai’s.”
“And where is this geological marvel?” Ulysses demanded. He sounded as if he thought Driesen’s tale was just driller hocus-pocus. Drillers were notorious for their tall tales and dreams of wealth. Yet most died without a credit chip to their names.
“It can only be reached with special drilling equipment that Tinker and I developed. But there’s water, billions of liters, never been touched. More than enough for all of Illinowa.”
Could it be? It was as if Driesen had said there were diamonds, free for the taking, polished and cut, gleaming in a pile like tomorrow’s promise. Everyone in that plane was silent, imagining the riches.
Kai’s lips were chapped and cracked, and his voice was harsh and raspy. He lifted his head and looked at me. “Water,” he said. “To start again.”
With all the talk about aquifers, we had forgotten that Kai and Driesen might be thirsty. I grabbed Sula’s canteen and helped Kai drink a long mouthful. Then I gave the rest to his father. I recalled that Kai had told me the symptoms of his diabetes began with a great thirst, a desire for water he couldn’t quench. It was as if his disease became his gift, his illness the cure for all of our sickness.
“We’ll need that equipment,” said Ulysses.
“It’s still at the dam PELA blew, I expect. Bluewater wasn’t interested in the water. They just wanted Kai.”
“Sula,” said Ulysses.
“Give me the coordinates,” she responded, and then she punched them into the onboard navigator.
“It’s the first place they’ll look,” said Driesen.
“We’ll not stay long enough for them to find us,” she said.
“And then what?” Driesen said bitterly. “You’ll have the entire Minnesota Water Guard looking for us. To say nothing of Bluewater.”
Ulysses sniffed. “Maybe we’ll just leave you at the dam.”
“Ulysses!” I scolded him.
“Without me, you can’t work the equipment,” Driesen said. “Without Rikkai, you won’t know where to drill.”
“We’re not leaving you anywhere,” I said. “Ulysses is just cranky.”
The pirate gritted his teeth. “You’d be cranky too if you had shrapnel in your hip.”
“What good will it do?” asked Will. “The dam’s in Minnesota. We’ll never get the water home.”
“The aquifer runs below most of the republic, and Minnesota too. It runs all the way up to Canada,” said Driesen. “We were drilling in Minnesota, because that’s where Tinker lived, and the barrier was shallow. We could drill right below Basin. But that won’t solve your problem.”
“Bluewater,” I said.
“They won’t let anyone drill,” agreed Driesen. “We tried, and look what happened. They won’t let anyone access free water if it threatens their hold.”
“Unless they don’t have a choice,” I said.
“How so?” asked Ulysses.
“We make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
“Ha! You sound like a pirate now!”
I felt like a pirate, suddenly enthused by a wily and implausible plan. “Listen,” I said.