Sally

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It wasn't the first time Ellen had worn stuff she'd taken off the dead, but this time she hadn't been the one to do the killing. She'd brushed up against a cell door control by mistake and deactivated the field holding it shut. The woman crumpled on the floor inside had no more use for her clothes, or for anything else, either, so Ellen had taken her uniform. The close-fitting black jumpsuit felt odd next to her skin, and the thick tan jacket and leggings over it didn't help much- but in the end it came down to wearing what felt weird, or going about in her underwear. All in all, Ellen felt pretty sure in guessing that the dead woman would agree with her on who ought to be in their skivvies and who oughtn't.

"Hey, do you hear that?" she said suddenly, pausing in mid-stride.

Somah glanced at her curiously. "Hear what?"

"I thought I heard someone's voice up ahead-"

"Hello? Hi? Anyone?"

"Sounds like it," said Somah. "Must be on the other side of that door. Let's go see what the deal is. We could always use another distraction."

That really wasn't how Ellen was thinking at all, but she let it pass. Somah had gotten them out of the cell, after all. Ellen owed her for that.

The door's six triangular segments pulled out of sight as they approached, opening onto a broad, low-ceilinged room with all sorts of devices in the walls whose function Ellen couldn't even begin to guess at. There were two cells set into the right-hand wall, though; Ellen approached the first one. It was as big as theirs had been, but it held one person: a yellow-haired girl Ellen guessed was about eight or nine years old. "Um," Ellen called. "Hello?"

The girl's face lit up, and she ran up to the forcefield blocking the door. Her clothes were familiar, Ellen realized with a shock: they looked exactly like the clothes of children in Mr. Brotch's history books about life at the time of the War. "Hi there!" the girl said. "My name's Sally. Listen, can you let me out of here?"

"Sure, I-" Ellen turned to the spot where the controls had been on the other cells and found only a smooth expanse of metal. "Um. Huh. There's nothing here..."

"Oh, crap. What the hell is this thing?" came Somah's voice. Ellen glanced up from the wall to see Somah watching a huge glass-walled canister rise out of the floor. Its interior might've had machinery in it- Ellen couldn't say, as it was wreathed in smoke and glowed an odd shade of amber. The smoke poured off it in all directions, dissipating only slowly.

Ellen glanced back at the girl- Sally. "Do you have any idea what that is?" she asked.

Sally shrugged. "Dunno. The aliens treat it like it's important, though. Maybe it's some kind of engine or something."

Ellen was about to ask what it could be an engine for when Somah muttered, "Shit, I thought that was the off switch..."

"That didn't sound good," Ellen said carefully.

"Yeah, no, it wasn't," Somah muttered. "Get back, kid, it's gonna blow."

Ellen winced and flattened herself against the wall, arms over her head. There was a dull BANG a moment later, and a wave of compressed air pushed her further into the wall. When she looked up the container's glass had shattered completely, dissipating the smoke and exposing now-dead mechanisms to view- and switching off the energy field holding Sally's cell closed. "Well," Ellen said. "I think you're good now."

Sally beamed. "Thanks! Are you escaping? Do you know where you're going? Because if you don't I can show you, I've seen a bunch."

Ellen started to draw breath to say okay, sure, but Somah was at her side by then. "I don't know, kid," the darker woman said. "That's a little hard to believe."

Sally folded her arms and stamped one foot against the floor. "I'm faster than I look, and I've been here a while. Sometimes I get out when there's a power problem or they're not paying attention. Then I get as far as I can and see as much of the ship as I can before they find me and put me back in here. I mean it."

Somah shook her head. "That's more than I can say. I don't know that I believe you, kid."

"My name is Sally."

"Look, we don't have an alternative," said Ellen hastily. The last thing they needed now was a fight. "How about you demonstrate?"

"Sure!" said Sally brightly. She didn't so much as bother touching the door before dropping to her knees, pulling a ventilation grate out of place, and crawling into the shockingly dark tunnel beyond.

Ellen blinked a few times; Somah shook her head. "Oh, great," she said. "So much for THAT idea. She suckered you good, huh?"

"Hey, at least somebody got out of here," Ellen snapped back. "We couldn't just leave her."

Somah started to reply, but the door's segments pulled themselves apart and revealed a grinning Sally on the other side. "See!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "I told you I could help!"

"Hooray," said Somah sourly. "Where to?"

"We'll have to be careful," Sally said. "They're probably mad already that we're out and about. I'll bet there's search parties all over by now. But it's okay. I know how to get through the steamworks."

"Wait," said Ellen. "The what?"