Subterra Heart

Chapter 32: Connor Rocha

Connor woke with a violent start. Someone stood over him, shaking him by his damn shoulder, and a woman's voice shouted something at his face. Dark curls flew around her head like a wild halo.

"Ah – ow! Shit! Marina, stop!" gasped Connor. But Marina only gripped his shoulder tighter.

"Where are they?" she yelled. "Where is Tess? Where is Bug?"

"What?" Connor glanced to his side. The pair had been right there just a moment ago. But all that he could see now was just a pile of rocks. He gazed stupidly at them. Marina looked about ready to slap him.

"Where are they?" she yelled once more.

"Damnit Marina, would you just stop for a minute?" he hissed. Connor was thinking through the few things that Tess had said in the past day. He had a pretty good idea of where the girl was heading.

~

An hour later, he and Marina were at the Flores Greens Transport Station.

This wasn't like the smaller transport stations that were dotted throughout the Greens. No, this one was the official hub for inter-city travel. It was loud and crowded, and this was just the ticket hall. Row upon row of ticket booths lined the walls, their shiny wooden panels gleaming with a honey-brown color. Building this place must have cost several fortunes.

The ticketing system could have been fully automated – just like it typically was within each sub-city – but travel between sub-cities was so heavily regulated that protocol required each traveler to be vetted by a travel agent. The process was quickest for travelers who kept up-to-date passports on their shae bands. Connor kept pace with Marina as she sidestepped throngs of people, each heading to a different booth.

The Flores Greens Transport Station was the only way to get from the Greens to Heart Central without trying to make an unmapped journey through the tunnels outside of Heart. Tess had been adamant that they needed to go there. He doubted that the girl would be able to make that long of a trip with any ease or speed – especially given the state she was in – but maybe she could find her way there. She and Bastet had been the ones to lead him back to the kuar lake below the Greens, after all. They had both seemed to know the tunnels by heart. It was eerie. The moment he'd mentioned this to Marina, she'd latched onto it like a feral cat would to a meal. If Heart Central was where Tess and Bastet were supposed to go, Marina would go there too.

It was probably going to turn into a wild goose chase, but Connor, for his part, didn't plan to let Marina search for her sister alone. And he had unfinished business with his cousin, Lenny. With any luck, that asshole who'd started this whole mess would be back at home in Heart Central by now.

"No," Marina repeated to him. "I've told you a hundred times now – you don't even have your own shae band anymore. It doesn't matter that I could get you ticket, it would be illegal if I did!" Marina had kept her passport up to date for her semi-annual training trips to Heart Central. As an authorized traveler, she could very easily tack on an extra ticket for companions like Connor. The problem, however, was his borrowed shae band. Since the one that he currently had was coded specifically for Tess, the authorities would make short work of him once they realized that he was not the correct user. And Marina had made it quite clear that she had no interest in taking such risks.

Connor was about to make a retort when he bumped into a scrawny kid in an oversized black jacket. The boy's hair was buzzed down to dark peach fuzz, and there was a small scar on his right cheek. Connor glanced after him in surprise. It was a former coworker. Manny? He hadn't expected to see that kid back in the Greens again this soon. An idea suddenly took shape in his head. It was a stupid one, but it'd do. He looked quickly back at Marina.