Chapter 83: Who Pays First

Toby pulled the banner rope around the railing and caught his paintbrush before it dropped into the bucket beneath him.

"Anyone laughing can hold this while I tie it, unless you want OUR HOME lying in the drain."

A worker took the rope while he tightened the knot, keeping the lettering above the volunteers coming through the clinic gate.

The fresh paint dripped onto the pavement right beside the entrance path.

A younger volunteer carefully stepped around the puddle while carrying a box of medical tape inside.

Toby wiped the excess paint onto his smock before reaching for the other side of the sign.

"You’ve painted half the knot."

"It’ll stay tied, then."

Cole shifted against his crutch beside the doorway, waiting for the painter to move the bucket out of the path.

"Leave a stretcher lane instead of decorating every space we might need to carry somebody through."

"You could supervise from the chair they brought you."

"Bring it here, and I’ll supervise you bringing it."

They settled him beside the door while workers fitted braces against the barricade, calling for wedges when the supports slipped.

Eight hours of hauling had filled the street with obstacles, but people still had to cross the gaps to reach the ward.

Leo stepped onto the threshold with his mask in place, checking the space the crew had left beside the entrance.

"Make that opening wider before somebody has to turn a stretcher sideways."

His sister caught his sleeve from inside the doorway, holding a bundle of dressings against her hip with the other hand.

"You can tell them that from under the roof, where the cameras can’t get a clean look at you."

"They can see the people carrying those beams, and I’m not making them work around an empty doorway."

"Then keep the mask on and stop reopening that shoulder."

He let her check the dressing beneath his collar before moving out to help a worker slide a brace into place.

The thick timber felt heavy against his palms as they angled it toward the masonry.

Inez dragged two crates from her stall and set them beside the gap, leaving the lids where someone could reach them.

She kicked the bottom crate into a level position on the uneven stones.

"These go back when you’re finished, and nobody puts a casualty in one while I’m not looking."

A teenager beside the barricade grabbed a lid and measured it against the gap.

"We’re using them to hold the wedges."

"Then use them for wedges, and tell your lads the potatoes underneath aren’t part of the wall."

A few loose vegetables spilled from the bottom slat and rolled toward the gutter.

Laughter carried down the work line while he helped turn the brace, holding it until the wedges took its weight.

Above him, Bekka moved along the roof overlooking the crossing, tracking the drones that stayed beyond the canal.

"They’re recording every tool we bring out here, and somebody’s going to call that hammer a siege weapon."

"It belonged to my grandfather," the worker beside him called without lowering his end of the brace. "They can arrest him if they dig far enough."

He felt pressure gather beneath his ribs as the crews looked toward him, then returned to lifting the next brace.

’They’re still expecting me to be here when those cameras become guns.’

The pressure eased into his ether, leaving enough in his arms to keep the brace from slipping when a wedge split.

"Hold it there while I get another one!"

He kept his hands in place and watched the glow spread beneath the support, reaching toward the barricade beside it.

The light pulsed outward and traced the edge of the nearest sandbag.

Something scraped inside the culvert behind the vendor, pulling his attention from the glow as a lurker climbed over the lip.

The mutant dragged its hind legs onto the street while tasting the air toward the gathered crates.

"Move away from the drain!"

He pulled his scabbard free and struck the creature before its jaws reached her leg, driving its head against the culvert.

The blunt impact pushed the beast backward over the iron grate.

A metallic clang echoed through the pipe as the creature landed in the shallow water below.

The vendor stumbled into the brace he’d left, but it held while a worker caught her arm and pulled her clear.

’That should’ve fallen when I let go.’

A field rose around the barricade, holding the support steady while the workers stepped back from the creature at his feet.

[ Reciprocal Bloom ]

[ Source: District 9 Civic Want ]

[ Field Strength: Weak ]

[ Field Color: Pink ]

[ Host Ether: Recovering ]

[ Armament: None ]

’The crowd’s feeding a field, but nobody has appeared in the bond list.’

"Stay back from the drain, and get a hook around that thing before anything else climbs over it."

He stood beside the brace while the crew dragged the lurker clear, watching the field quiver when they pulled against the barricade.

"Can it hold the whole crossing?"

"I don’t know yet, and you keep putting those wedges in."

Sierra crouched beside the roof access above him, keeping the drone routes in view while she spoke through their link.

"Crowds are sloppy accomplices, and this one’s about to give you credit for everything that doesn’t fall over."

"I’m trying to keep them working instead of testing it."

"Start by telling the boy with the wrench to stop tapping the glow."

He caught the painter’s eye and pointed toward the supports, earning a shrug before the wrench returned to its work.

At the window above reception, Luna leaned against the sill and watched the light settle around the volunteers carrying a stretcher inside.

"They can pass through it, but the corner moved when the wind caught that banner."

"I see it."

He eased more ether toward the corner until the glow steadied, feeling the crowd’s attention gather again as the brace stopped swaying.

An alert sounded from the liaison’s receiver, and she held it away from the roof while reading the notice across its screen.

{ Council Notice: Unauthorized assembly }

{ Location: District 9 canal approach }

{ Order: Clear the roadway }

"The medical entrance stays open, and they have no grounds to disperse people carrying supplies."

She transmitted her credential while a broadcast drone descended toward the intersection, keeping its camera aimed at the field beneath her.

"Authorities warn that the vigilante is using an unidentified influence on residents gathered around his stronghold."

The broadcast repeated the warning twice more while sweeping its lens across the barricades.

The vendor looked up from her crates and waved a potato at the camera, drawing it toward her side of the street.

She threw the vegetable onto the ground directly beneath the hovering machine.

"Film my stall if you need a stronghold, and buy something while you’re there."

Another drone crossed above the barricade with its siren running, pushing air against the banner until the painter lost his grip.

The field bowed beside the stretcher lane as people backed toward the entrance, leaving a brace leaning over the place they’d cleared.

’Keep that standing until they get through, then let it drop.’

He reached for the three currents he knew through his bonds, threading the field’s slipping edge through their familiar paths.

The brace stopped moving while the stretcher passed beneath it, and he held the connection as the crowd pressed closer.

"Something’s pulling through my wrists."

He looked toward the roof as the liaison lowered her arms, losing the wind she’d kept beneath the circling drones.

At the window, the healer caught the sill with both hands and tried to speak, dropping out of sight before she finished.

[ Field Routing: Three Active Partner Links ]

[ Link Load: Overload ]

’I put the field through them.’

He cut the connection before reaching for another breath, letting the glow disappear as workers caught the tilting brace.

"Drop the field, my sight’s-"

"It’s down, and nobody tries to hold it for me!"

The painter caught the dockmaster’s crutch when it slipped against the ground, keeping him in his chair as the crowd shifted.

"Was that us, wanting the wall to hold?"

"I routed it through people who hadn’t agreed to carry it, and I shut it off when I felt the drain."

He looked toward the window, waiting until his sister appeared and waved him inside without taking her hand off the patient below.

"Keep the stretcher lane open, and finish the supports without the field."

The vendor pushed her crates against the brace while the workers drove wedges beneath it, keeping their hands clear of the joints.

"We’ve been holding things up without glowing since before you were born, now go check on her."

He backed through the doorway as the liaison reached the stairs, bracing against the wall instead of jumping down beside him.

From the roof access came a curse and the sound of a knee striking the landing, followed by a call for help.

He took the stairs with the district clock visible through the window, eighteen hours still showing beneath the ship.

Upstairs, his sister opened a cupboard and reached past the medicines for the supplies they used when healing wouldn’t answer.

"Bring the blankets, and don’t ask any of them to use their powers."