that she could feel in her very flesh. Today, that mood was a good one, a tingly one. She smiled into the mood as she pushed open the door to the deputy station to grab a chair for a few precious minutes.
Sela hurried into the station while Marina was resting and snatched up a radio that had begun to crackle with noise. Marina didn't know how they understood what came through all that warbling and static, but both Joseph and Sela told her they simply got used to it. She supposed it must be so because Sela listened intently while she fished about for a piece of chalk and a blank slate. She scribbled something down and then responded with code letters and numbers that meant something to her but sounded like impressive gibberish to Marina. Sela scooted back out where the men talked and then bounced on her toes waiting for either deputy to acknowledge her desire to speak with them.
It was Sander who turned to her, holding a polite hand up for Joseph to pause him. He told her to go ahead before she jumped out of her coveralls, his voice gruff but his face showing a good natured smile. It spoke to their close working relationship but Marina wasn’t at all sure about her daughter's choice of profession and the rough nature of such work. She seemed so small and young compared with the two men towering over her.
After Sela relayed her message, she handed it to Sander rather than her off-duty father. She stepped back and the two deputies came together for a whispered conversation. They broke apart and Joseph turned back to his family and asked, his voice full of false cheer, "Are we ready? We need to hit the treads if we're going to get any shopping done."
Marina smiled an acknowledgement and stood, bracing herself should her thighs protest, but they felt fine and fully rested. She cast surreptitious glances at both deputies to see if there was anything she should worry about as she re-shouldered her pack. Nothing seemed amiss now that they were getting ready to go so she shrugged off her husband's perpetually busy job, checked the straps on Sela's pack and linked her arm with her husband's.
"Ready when you are, sweetie," she said, a grin on her face.
He patted her hand and they walked at a comfortable pace across the landing, Sela trailing a few steps behind. They waited for a gap in the traffic before merging with the upward flow. It was past the midpoint in the first shift now and nearing the height of business traffic. It would just get worse near the end of the shift when all those returning to their compartments and all those going on shift clogged the stairs going both ways.
Joseph let go of her arm and urged her ahead of him on the stairs. When she looked back at him with a questioning look , he winked and said, "I know this is harder for you. You work with your brain, not your legs. You set the pace."
She flushed, both embarrassed and edified at his understanding and his kind acceptance. She glanced back at Sela, who smiled too, and then turned her eyes toward the upward path. Marina realized she was far worse at hiding things from her family than she thought and her thoughts went automatically back to the image and note she had hidden under a loose tile in her workroom. She would either need to become a much more skilled fabricator of moods and words or she would surely be caught out.
She had realized, long before she tucked those two small bits of paper, now wrapped in thin plastic for protection, under the loose tile that what she was doing...what she had already done...would probably mean a lifetime of remediation if she was caught. It wouldn't matter if every other facet of her life was tenet perfect. This wasn't just asking too many questions about outside or breaking tenets.
No, this was far more severe. She had hidden proof of a past that didn't match silo history and she had done it without going to the Historians. She possessed it and she meant to keep it if she could.
Ma rina didn't want to be sent to
Sela hurried into the station while Marina was resting and snatched up a radio that had begun to crackle with noise. Marina didn't know how they understood what came through all that warbling and static, but both Joseph and Sela told her they simply got used to it. She supposed it must be so because Sela listened intently while she fished about for a piece of chalk and a blank slate. She scribbled something down and then responded with code letters and numbers that meant something to her but sounded like impressive gibberish to Marina. Sela scooted back out where the men talked and then bounced on her toes waiting for either deputy to acknowledge her desire to speak with them.
It was Sander who turned to her, holding a polite hand up for Joseph to pause him. He told her to go ahead before she jumped out of her coveralls, his voice gruff but his face showing a good natured smile. It spoke to their close working relationship but Marina wasn’t at all sure about her daughter's choice of profession and the rough nature of such work. She seemed so small and young compared with the two men towering over her.
After Sela relayed her message, she handed it to Sander rather than her off-duty father. She stepped back and the two deputies came together for a whispered conversation. They broke apart and Joseph turned back to his family and asked, his voice full of false cheer, "Are we ready? We need to hit the treads if we're going to get any shopping done."
Marina smiled an acknowledgement and stood, bracing herself should her thighs protest, but they felt fine and fully rested. She cast surreptitious glances at both deputies to see if there was anything she should worry about as she re-shouldered her pack. Nothing seemed amiss now that they were getting ready to go so she shrugged off her husband's perpetually busy job, checked the straps on Sela's pack and linked her arm with her husband's.
"Ready when you are, sweetie," she said, a grin on her face.
He patted her hand and they walked at a comfortable pace across the landing, Sela trailing a few steps behind. They waited for a gap in the traffic before merging with the upward flow. It was past the midpoint in the first shift now and nearing the height of business traffic. It would just get worse near the end of the shift when all those returning to their compartments and all those going on shift clogged the stairs going both ways.
Joseph let go of her arm and urged her ahead of him on the stairs. When she looked back at him with a questioning look , he winked and said, "I know this is harder for you. You work with your brain, not your legs. You set the pace."
She flushed, both embarrassed and edified at his understanding and his kind acceptance. She glanced back at Sela, who smiled too, and then turned her eyes toward the upward path. Marina realized she was far worse at hiding things from her family than she thought and her thoughts went automatically back to the image and note she had hidden under a loose tile in her workroom. She would either need to become a much more skilled fabricator of moods and words or she would surely be caught out.
She had realized, long before she tucked those two small bits of paper, now wrapped in thin plastic for protection, under the loose tile that what she was doing...what she had already done...would probably mean a lifetime of remediation if she was caught. It wouldn't matter if every other facet of her life was tenet perfect. This wasn't just asking too many questions about outside or breaking tenets.
No, this was far more severe. She had hidden proof of a past that didn't match silo history and she had done it without going to the Historians. She possessed it and she meant to keep it if she could.
Ma rina didn't want to be sent to
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