Page 28 (1/2)
Suspicion
As the days passed, Tally fell into the routines of the S about the exhaustion of hard work All her life, Tally had been troubled by insous she should have done differently But here in the Smoke her mind shut off the moment her head hit the pillohich wasn’t even a pillow, just her neeater stuffed into a cotton bag
Tally still didn’t kno long she was going to stay there She hadn’t come to a decision about whether to activate the pendant, but she knew that thinking about it all the time would drive her crazy So she decided to put it out of her ht wake up and realize that she couldn’t stand to live her entire life as an ugly, no matter who it hurt or what it costbut for theher troubles was easy in the Smoke Life was much more intense than in the city She bathed in a river so cold that she had to ju, and she ate food pulled froue, which city food never did Of course, sheher eyes, and flush toilets (she’d learned to her horror what "latrines" were), and mostly medspray But however blistered her hands becaer than ever before She could work all day at the railroad site, then race David and Shay home on hoverboards, her backpack full of more scrap metal than she could have lifted a month before She learned from David how to repair her clothes with a needle and thread, how to tell raptors from their prey, and even how to clean fish, which turned out to be not nearly as bad as cutting them up in bio class
The physical beauty of the Smoke also cleared her e thethem spectacular in a completely neay
Nature, at least, didn’t need an operation to be beautiful It just was
Oneon the way to the railroad track, David pulled his board up alongside Tally’s He rode silently for a while, taking the farace Over the last teeks, she’d learned that his jacket was actually otten used to the idea The S only species that didn’t belong in this part of the world or that had gotten out of control thanks to the Rusties’With its random patches, the jacket would probably look silly on anyone else But it suited David, so up here in the wild allowed him to fuse with the animals that had donated their skins to his clothes And it probably didn’t hurt that he had actually made the jacket hiot a present for you"
"A present? Really?"
By now, Tally understood that nothing in the Siven away just because it was old or broken Everything was repaired, refitted, and recycled, and if one Smokey couldn’t put it to use, it was traded to another Few things were given away lightly
"Yeah, really" David angled closer and handed her a s the fa It was a pair of gloves, handht, city-loves onto her blistered hands "Thanks! They fit perfectly"
He nodded "I e They’re a little s she could hug him When they spread their arms to take a hard turn, she held his hand for a second
Flexing her fingers, Tally found that the gloves were soft and pliant, the paler joints revealed how they had fitted David’s hands "They’re wonderful"
"Coic or anything"
"No, but they’ve gotso" History, Tally realized In the city, she’d owned lots of things - practically anything she wanted cas were disposable and replaceable, as interchangeable as the T-shirt, jacket, and skirt corew old, carrying their histories with thes and scratches and tatters
David chuckled at her and sped up, joining Shay at the front of the pack
When they got to the railroad site, David announced that they had to clear etation that had grown up around the metal rails
"What about the trees?" Croy asked
"What about them?"
"Do we have to chop theed "Scrub trees like this aren’t good for much But on’t waste the"
"Burning?" Tally said The Smokies usually only cut down trees from the valley, not the rest of thethere for decades, and David wanted to use them just to cook a meal? She looked at Shay for support, but her friend’s expression was carefully neutral She probably agreed, but didn’t want to argue with David in front of everyone about how to run his project
"Yes, burning," he said "And after we’ve salvaged the track, we’ll replant Put a row of useful trees where the railroad used to be"
The five others looked at hiet started, but aware he didn’t have their full support yet
"You know, David," Croy said "These trees aren’t useless They protect the underbrush fro"
"Okay, you win Instead of planting some other kind of tree, we’ll let the forest take back the land All the crappy scrub and underbrush you want"
"But do we have to clear-cut them?" Astrix asked
David took a slow breath "Clear-cutting" was the word for what the Rusties had done to the old forests: felling every tree, killing every living thing, turning entire countries into grazing land Whole rain forests had been consu species to a bunch of cows eating grass, a vast web of life traded for cheap ha All we’re doing is pulling out the garbage that the Rusties left behind,"
David said "It just takes a little surgery to do it"
"We could chop around the trees," Tally said "Only cut into theery"
"Okay, fine" He chuckled "Let’s see what you think of these trees after you’ve had to hack a few out of the ground"
He was right
The vibrasaw purred through heavy vines, parted tangled underbrush like a coh e down onto the track But when its teeth narled roots and twisted branches of the scrub trees, it was a different story
Tally gri bits of bark at her face, its low huled to force the edge down into the tough old branch
One more cut and this section of track would be clear
"Going good You alot it, Tally"
She noticed that Croy stood well back, poised to jump if the saw somehow slipped from her hands She could see nohy David had wanted to chop the scrub trees into pieces It would have been a lot easier than reaching through the tangle of roots and branches, trying to bring the vibrasaw to bear against a precise spot
"Stupid trees," Tally ain
Finally, the saw found purchase in the wood, letting out a high-pitched scream as it bit into the branch
Then it slipped through, free for a second before it thrust, spitting and screeching, into the dirt below
"Yeah!" Tally stepped back, lifting her goggles, the saering down in her hands
Croy stepped forward and kicked the section of branch away froical slice, Doctor," he said
"I think I’ her brow
It was althat the iving shade"
"You said it," Croy said "Nice sweater, by the way"
She sloves, it was her prized possession "Thanks"
"What did it cost you?"
"Six SpagBols"
"A little pricey Pretty, though" Croy caught her eye "Tally, reot here?
When I kind of grabbed your knapsack? I really wouldn’t have taken your stuff Not without giving you so for it You just surprised "
"Sure, no problem," she said Now that she’d worked with Croy, he seeuy
She’d rather have been teaether today And it was probably tiot to know soot a new sleeping bag, too, I hope"
"Yeah Twelve SpagBols"
"Must be alht left"
"Not bad Still, I bet you didn’t realize on your way here that you were eating your future wealth"
Tally laughed They crouched under the partly cut tree, pulling handfuls of cut vines from around the track
"If I’d kno valuable food packets were, I probably wouldn’t have eaten soor not I don’t even like it anyBol for breakfast"
"Sounds good to me" Croy chuckled "This section look clear to you?"
"Sure Let’s start on the next one" She handed him the saw
Croy did the easy part first, attacking the underbrush with the hu that’s kind of confusing"
"What’s that?"
The saw glanced offof sparks
"The first day you were here, you said you left the city with teeks of food"
"Yeah"