Tunnels 03, Freefall

hair and her full, generous face. It was a kindly face, her cheeks crinkled into a smile. Chester couldn't tell how old she was, but put her somewhere in her forties. Apart from her clothes, she could have easily passed for one of his mother's friends, who would occasionally give her a lift home after the various evening classes she attended.
    "You're lucky it was my day to check the traps, or you'd be spider-monkey fodder by now," the woman said, extending a hand to Chester. "Up you get, love."
    "You're not Styx, then?" he asked hesitantly, looking into her eyes.
    Will's mumbled cries came as she answered, "No, not Styx. Besides, I'm not the one who was trying to blat spider-monkeys with a Limiter rifle." Her voice was a little croaky, as if it wasn't used very often.
    "It isn't mine... I mean..." he stuttered as he tried to explain.
    "Don't worry, dearie, I can see you're not a White Neck." She gazed back into his eyes. "Ah, you don't know how good that is," she said.
    "What is?" he asked, taking hold of her hand and allowing her to help him up.
    "To lay eyes on another person!" she replied, as if the answer to her question was obvious. She was still clasping his hand when Will shouted again.
    "Er... my friends need help," Chester reminded her, tugging his hand away.
    As Chester continued to stare at her in dumb amazement, the woman slung the crossbow over her shoulder. Taking some sprigs of what appeared to be dried plants from the thick belt around her ample waist, she lobbed them on top of the heap of burning creatures. An intense but not unpleasant smell instantly permeated the air. "That'll stop any more of these beggars coming," she informed Chester, as she bustled over to the tunnel where the net hung. Releasing a rope somewhere in the darkness, she lowered the twitching bundle of Will, Elliott and the cat gently to the floor.
    "Don't you worry -- we'll have you out of there in two shakes," she said, pulling at the top of the net to loosen a tie.
    Bartleby was the first to emerge, growling and baring his teeth at the woman.
    "A Hunter," she said, dropping the net and clapping her hands together in delight. "Well, I never thought I'd see a Hunter again!"
    Bartleby decided she was no risk and slunk past her, giving her a curious sniff on the way. He was much more interested in the spider-monkeys, as the woman had referred to them, circling cautiously around their remains.
    With no help from the woman, Will had extricated himself from the net. He scrambled to his feet, then rubbed his thigh. "Stupid cat bit me! Chester, what happ--" He stopped short as his eyes alighted on the woman. "Who the hell are you?"
    "Martha," she answered. "But people call me Ma ."
    "Martha?" Will said, shaking his head in disbelief. " Ma? "
    "Yes, Ma. That's what they used to call me," she said, as she studied Will. "Well, look at you. White hair and those lovely pale eyes. No question you were born under grass ."
    "What does that mean?" Chester asked, mystified.
    "It means that I was born in the Colony," Will told him. "You know -- under the grass -- in the Earth."
    "Oh, right, I get it," Chester said.
    Martha had noticed Elliott's unmoving form in the net. "There's another of you! What's up with him?" she asked, her brow crinkling with concern. "I do hope he didn't get hurt by my deadfall."
    Will snapped out of his bewilderment, and immediately bent to unravel the coarse netting from around Elliott. Then he lifted her out.
    "Why, it's a young woman!" Martha exclaimed, as she saw Elliott's face. "What's wrong with her?"
    "Well, er, Mrs. er, Ma... Martha," Will began, launching into an explanation of how they had been hunted by the Limiters and then blasted into the Pore by their artillery.
    Her arms crossed, she listened intently to him for a minute, and then raised one of her small hands to silence him.
    "I'm sorry, dearie, I have to tell you I'm not taking any of this in," she admitted, shaking her head. "Do you know when I last heard another voice?" She abruptly uncrossed her arms and, slipping her hand inside her coat, scratched vigorously at an armpit in a most unladylike manner.
    "A very long time ago?" Will said, watching askance as she finished scratching herself, then put her fingers into her mouth and sucked them.
    "You got that right, dearie," she said. "You had all better come with me, but I've got to collect all this food. Looks like we're going to need every last bit. More mouths to feed now."
    Will and Chester