The Gender End (The Gender Game #7)

“It’s not,” I insisted. “I’ve been to The Green, where the toxic water is even more concentrated, and it glows blue. An unnaturally vibrant blue.”

Belinda and Kathryn both exchanged surprised looks. “You’ve been to The Green? I mean, you’ve seen the river up that far?”

I nodded and then shrugged. “It’s sort of a long story, and since it contains elements that will make Belinda angry, suffice it to say I sort of crash-landed there, got bitten by a centipede and chased by red flies, and nearly died a handful of times.”

“Sweet mother,” Kathryn whispered in horror, and no small amount of awe. I had to admit, it was kind of gratifying. If she was impressed by my survival abilities, then maybe she would be more inclined to continue advocating to Belinda for my continued place in the heloship’s confusing chain of command. She looked back out the window, and then gave a tight nod. “Let’s do it.”

I quickly moved over to where the hydraulic pump and tubes still hung from the ceiling and began the process of pouring in more fluid. Belinda began unbuttoning the front of her uniform, shrugging out of it and revealing a thermal shirt, which she then stripped off, leaving a white tank top.

The light pouring through the window was generating a lot of heat, and even I was beginning to feel the room warm up, but for now, I ignored it, keeping my layers on—they felt like my armor. Once the line was full, I nodded at Belinda, and began to blow as she pulled on the steering column.

We repeated the procedure three times, just like last time, and each time Belinda was able to pull the column a few more inches over. The heloship deck tilted up slightly as she continued to hold it. I moved over to help her, the metal column vibrating with the strain of trying to hold the rudder and flaps without any hydraulic fluid to lubricate the mechanical gears.

Kathryn peered out the window, and after several long heartbeats, she finally shouted, “We’re good!” and Belinda and I slowly eased off the column. The deck tilted back down as the turn evened out, and I moved over to the bubble. The river was now almost below us, to our right, as we hadn’t quite crossed it during our slow turn. It curved back and forth, cutting a wide, winding path through the yellow earth. Nothing grew next to it, but still it churned below, sometimes smooth, other times violent, almost white, but flowing with strong currents northward—the same direction in which we were now traveling.

“I’ll keep an eye on it,” Kathryn said, and I turned, noticing that rivulets of sweat were pouring down her forehead. “I’m… I could use some water and a bit of a rest.”

I nodded wordlessly and then went to retrieve her some water from the bay, unscrewing the lid of the bottle and holding it out to where she was now sitting on the floor, her back to one of the dead control boxes. Her cheeks flushed red, but she tilted her head back, and I carefully poured some into her mouth. She made a sound in the back of her throat, and I stopped, giving her a chance to swallow.

“How much fuel do we have?” I asked, fighting back another yawn as I poured some more water into her open mouth.

Behind me, Belinda tossed something metallic onto the floor, giving an irritated grunt, but I ignored her. It was an important question.

Kathryn swallowed the mouthful and exhaled. “It’s hard to say for certain. I can’t really tell how fast we’re going, and have no idea if we’re flying against the wind. At top speed with the hardest headwind we could actually continue moving against, we would’ve been halfway through our supply an hour ago. But since we are moving quickly, it’s hard to say.”

“How much time with no headwind?” I asked, and Kathryn crunched the numbers, then looked at her watch. “Two more hours? Maybe a little bit more. But again, there’s no telling what speed we’re moving at, not without the handheld.”

Another metallic clang came from behind me, and I turned to see Belinda looking over her shoulder at us, the manual on the other side of the gap in the floor. “A little help.” It wasn’t a question.

I looked at Kathryn, and she gave me a little shrug as I recapped the water and sat it next to her. “Let me know if you want more,” I said as I moved over to the manual. Picking it up, I stared at the first few dozen words on the page, trying to decipher the images and words there.

“Read it to me,” Kathryn instructed as she gave a groan and slid down a few inches.

I repeated the words, skipping down a few lines as she told me they’d finished that part, and then listening closely. She took a minute, and then quickly explained the next batch of wires for Belinda to work on.

We were just on the last few wires—thank God—when Kathryn sat upright with a jerk, dragging my attention from Belinda, who was carefully soldering another wire to a metal contact. “What is it?” I asked, immediately alarmed.

I was already standing up and moving, even as she breathed, “What is that?”

As I looked out the window, I also found myself viewing the scene with confusion.

“I got it, if either of you care?” grumped Belinda from behind us.

“You see that, right?” asked Kathryn, looking up at me as I gazed at the massive gray and black structure that rose up from the desert at a ninety-degree angle, shooting up into the sky. The structure was so massive that the river that flowed by it seemed to disappear behind it. The walls were perfectly flat, the structure angled in an almost hexagonal shape, with strange black wings jutting out from the sides near the top.

“This might mean people!” I gasped, trying to resist the urge to press my nose against the glass, desperate for a clearer look. “Maybe they could help us. Maybe we could land there!”

“Are you crazy?” asked Kathryn, just as Belinda said, “There’s people?”

“Look for yourself,” I told her, stepping back from the window. Belinda set the handheld down and moved over to the window, looking at the structure as it continued to grow in our view. The platforms jutting off the side revealed themselves to be thicker than I’d first thought, and as it continued to draw nearer, it was clear that they were bigger than I could’ve imagined.

“Oh my God,” said Belinda, her eyes growing wide. “It’s so big. How can it be so big? It looks… sinister, like something from my worst nightmares.”

“You have some pretty tame nightmares, then,” I retorted, perhaps a touch bitterly, under my breath.

If Belinda heard me, she gave no sign of it as she continued to gape out the window. “It’s so big,” she repeated in awe. “It has to be at least a mile tall. Maybe more.”

“Actually, I should be able to tell,” said Kathryn. “Violet, the handheld.”

I moved over to it, sitting down on the floor in front of it. The thing had dozens of wires jutting out of the back, and moving it too much could cause any one of them to disconnect—better just to go to it rather than attempt moving it. I clicked the screen on and immediately paused at the sight of the flashing red alert that popped up.