Edge of the Falls (After the Fall) Read Online Free PDF Page B

instruct, and I hear her wiggling along the slick rocks. “Go slow, sweet.”
    There’s a strange crackle and pop, and then silence.
    Our communication is over. She has two hours—any more, and Berg will pull her out. The tunnel is short, and the cavern is big, but it never takes longer than two—unless something is wrong.
    Mistress is chewing on her fingernail. It’s the only time she shows any sign of emotion, of worry—when we can’t communicate with the child in the tunnel. I understand her worry, but I have spent more than my fair share of hours in that tunnel. Even without being able to coach her along, I know what rocks Kaida is picking her way over.
    I sit on the muddy ice, close my eyes, and imagine the wet darkness. The first twist to the tunnel is five body lengths in—and it goes to the right. I can imagine her whimper as she kicks it—they
always
forget that first turn. After that, the pace slows. It’s a bit warmer, away from the wind and the water. The roar dulls to a murmur. The rocks are sharp, but they are hardly a threat—her skintight suit is made of a hybrid material, bought in the City, and even steel won’t cut it. Sharp rocks are uncomfortable, but nothing more.
    More than rocks linger in the darkness. When will she hear the first hiss, the first rustle of reptilian skin crawling in the darkness? The cavern and tunnel are always devoid of insects—the snakes and fire-lizards seek them out with ruthless efficiency.
    This late in the season, some of the reptiles will be hibernating. But not all, not the hybrids. Those that aren’t will be drawn to the food source—the same thing that draws Kaida now.
    Starrbriars--a soft plant that oozes sap and smells like fallen snow. They aren’t particularly attractive when flowering, but have wide shiny leafs that the hybrid reptiles love.
    It’s a simple thing, to pluck the starrbriars. It takes seconds. But when you're so young and in a cavern of darkness, with fire-lizards and snakes darting around your ankles it’s terrifying. I shudder, and with a choking feeling of guilt, I pull my thoughts away from her. Away from my memories of that pitch black cave lit only by the eerie green darkvision goggles Mistress provides each time a child goes on this insane mission.
    A spark of anger leaps, catching in my chest—
why
does she do this to us? Yes, she provides for us and protects us, but the cost is so high.
    Now is not the time to dwell on my anger, so I focus across the gorge. It’s raining and I can’t see the lights. I know from past experience that if the weather were clear, Citizens would be lining the Shield. They always watch as we lower a child into the Falls. Some stay until the end—most wander off, attention evaporating in the tedium of waiting. I hate them. How dare they find our personal tragedy an afternoon’s entertainment?
    I glance at Berg as the cold shivers down my spine. The darklight that marks morning in our life obscures his features, but I know his eyes are tight with worry. He will not speak against the Mistress, but I know he hates this as much as I do. After all, he rescued Kaida.
    A ban-wolf screams in the distance, and I jump, causing Gwen to mutter and elbow me. Berg’s hands are tight on the control panel. My eyes skip away from him guiltily, remembering how I thought of the white ban-wolf in the afterglow of our sex last night.
    For a heartbeat, I wonder if he’s out there now, the mysterious ban-wolf, watching us from behind the sheet of rain.
    Mistress nods at Berg and he taps a rapid series of commands into the tablet, and before us, the fire leaps to life. I hadn’t even noticed the fire-lizards that had breeched the cliff top. It makes me feel better—Kaida’s moving down there, agitating them. There’s a pain-filled shriek, and I wince. The lizards caught in the fire sound painfully human—a trait all genetic hybrids seem to share. My eyes water as the acid they spit catches fire, and Gwen reaches