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ESCAPE FROM ARSLYKUS 0
Publisher’s Notes
This adult science fiction novel is unsuitable for minors.
This novel is the copyrighted work of Leslie O. Green 2005, 2007, all rights
reserved. Written in the UK and first published on the World Wide Web, January
2005.
This novel is not to be re-sold, lent, rented, transferred to a new owner, copied,
modified, printed, published, re-published, or distributed, without prior explicit
written permission of the author. Contact email: logbook@lineone.net
The use of any trade-names within this novel is entirely accidental; the reader
should not infer that any characteristics of the products or materials mentioned in
this novel relate to similarly named products or materials that exist in the real
world.
Any names mentioned in this novel, except that of the author, are not to be
confused with real people who exist, or have existed, in the real world.
The author disclaims all liabilities relating to the use or misuse of any ideas or
techniques portrayed in this work.
… any slander of any now extinct space-faring race is entirely deliberate.
First printing: January 2005
Second printing: January 2007, using PrimoPDF v3.0 (activePDF Inc).
Version 1.01 1 January 2007
ESCAPE FROM ARSLYKUS 0
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE:
The document that you are about to read is a translation of a manuscript that is more
than 5000 years old, as verified by radio carbon dating. I discovered the original
manuscript in a recent excavation of the ruins of an ancient monastery. According to the
notes and records that I found alongside this text, the monks had been keeping the
manuscript safe until such time as the world was ready for the story. Apparently some
disaster befell the monastery a few hundred years ago and no monks survived to pass
on the manuscript. Nevertheless, the document was kept safe, along with other holy
relics, by the care with which the monks hid their most secret secrets. Whatever
happened at the monastery was evidently so rapid and so total that there was no time to
document it.
According to the notes left by the head of the monastery of that time, a group of
strangers suddenly arrived in a nearby inhospitable valley. One of the younger monks
was despatched to contact these strangers, but was perplexed to find that he could not
understand their language or their magical mechanisms. Somehow the monk found
himself drawn to these strangers. He convinced the elders at the monastery to let him
learn about the wondrous things he had seen in the strangers’ settlement. This monk
spent years in their settlement, learning their language, and eventually writing the
manuscript you are about to read. The monk, being a devoutly spiritual person, gives
little evidence of his presence. The manuscript therefore appears to have been written
by Joran, although in fact it was apparently dictated to the monk, who then translated it
into Sanskrit.
You will appreciate that the style of writing in ancient Sanskrit is quite unusual for the
modern reader. I have tried my best to translate the text faithfully, but you should
understand that some of the vocabulary just did not exist in the Sanskrit language all
those years ago. I have therefore taken certain liberties with the translation for the sake
of brevity, leaning heavily on the vocabulary of the so-called ‘sci-fi’ genre.
In places the text reads like a play, but without the labels telling you who is saying what.
I have tried to clarify this a little by the use of single quotes and double quotes for
alternate speakers, also changing to italics for alternate speakers when necessary.
Joran’s direct speech is always given in italics. This, however, is the extent of my
changes, since I do not feel that a translator has any right to materially alter an author’s
presentation.
Humbly presented by:
R.J.K. Prof. Of Antiquities, Univ. of Calcutta, 1963.
2
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I have learned much from my new found friend and mentor in this otherwise
desolate place. Only now that I have finished my story can I complete the
introduction. The beginning is in fact the end! It is therefore with some relief that I
present this account, my long task now being almost complete.
My friends have been dying one by one over the years, and now there are few of us
left. I knew that if I died before I told my story, it would be as if we had never
existed. Perhaps it would have been better that way. But on this planet, at this time,
they believe that life does not end with death. They believe that the wheel of life is
continuous; an everlasting circle of life-death-life. My spiritual mentor has
therefore admonished me to be truthful in all aspects of this account. Apparently
confession is good for the soul, whatever one of those is. Possibly good people
have them; if I had one at the beginning of this story, you can be sure there was
nothing left of it by the end.
I don’t know if this is a confession, as such, because I am just a man. My life has
just been a struggle for survival. Looking back, I don’t see that I could have done
much better if I had it all to do over again. Would I still do what I did, who can
say? Was it right or wrong for me to kill all those people? You can make up your
own mind. If I am right then I will die soon and that will be the end of it; if my
mentor is right then … I don’t want to think about that possibility.
I am Joran, son of Mordan. This is the story of how I came to be here in this valley,
and what transpired on the way:
3
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1 Death
It was the end of a hard day in the fields. The sun was getting low in the sky and a
cool breeze was insinuating itself into my loose fitting jacket. It had been a good
day. The scythe had cut its fair share of grass and it looked as if the animals would
not go hungry this winter.
I allowed myself to be drawn along with the breeze, down the gentle incline to a
simple dwelling where my wife, heavy with child, was preparing an evening meal.
The baby would be due soon and there would be another mouth to feed. But this
was not a burden, it was a joy. I whistled as I ambled down the track to the house;
my house, built by me.
The scythe bounced around on my right shoulder, but I hardly noticed. Would
the baby be a boy or a girl? Light hair like its mother, or dark like mine? Oh the
possibilities were endless! Months of waiting, and now the time was near. A son, a
daughter, I didn’t mind. Either would be loved and cherished with all of our hearts.
I was awakened from my reverie by a fast rushing sound coming from behind
me. I noticed that I had covered half the distance to the house, without even being
aware of it. I turned in a relaxed fashion as the noise itself was not threatening. At
least it didn’t sound threatening.
I looked up and saw a boat flying through the air! I fell to my knees in shock,
grasping at some nearby grass as if to steady myself, or perhaps to help me hide.
How could a boat be in the air? Where were the sails to propel it? Certainly there
were no oxen pulling it. What devilry was this? Everybody knew that a stone
would quickly fall to the ground, even if thrown by the strongest of men. What sort
of catapult could have thrown this boat into the air?
Over the low shallow hills, it was easy to see the boat from some distance away.
Why did it not get closer to the ground? Wait! It was moving from side to side as if
fleeing from a predator; no stone thrown from a catapult ever did that. I got to my
feet, ashamed of my cowardice. I looked around quickly to make sure nobody had
seen my foolishness. What a joke I would be to my friends in the village if they
knew that I had been afraid of a boat! I was then more concerned with what my
friends would think; the boat was temporarily ignored.
The boat was closer now and I could see it more clearly. It had an ugly box
shape with markings on it, strange markings. Perhaps this was writing. I had seen
writing once; I wasn’t completely ignorant. I had seen writing when the priest
came to perform the marriages. He came every year in the spring and he made
marks in a book he carried.
I looked straight at the boat. I, Joran, son of Mordan, could stand as a man and
face it. I had reached my twentieth year last winter and had been married for just
over five years. I was bold and fearless, wasn’t I? Of course I was; the fearlessness
of youth.
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Suddenly there was a bright red flash near to the boat and a loud noise. It
sounded as if the air itself was angry. I dropped onto the ground and lay trembling
in the long grass, hiding my face as if that would protect me. It is not something
that I can be proud of, but by my telling you all that happened, even the
embarrassing things, I hope that you will believe me.
There were several of these flashes and bangs. The flashes were so bright that
even with my eyes closed and buried in my hands, I could still see them. Then
there was a particularly loud bang, different to the others. I had recovered my
composure enough to look back up at the boat, guardedly, from my prone position.
The once smooth and unblemished outer surface of the boat was now blackened
and there was a large jagged hole towards the rear. Now it was heading downwards
at a gentle rate. Hey, where was it going? I scrambled to my feet. No, there were
countless open fields all around and it was heading for my home. NO! I ran
towards the house as if to protect it from the boat. It seemed that the harder I tried
to run, the slower I seemed to move. Time itself conspired against me to prevent
me from reaching my home. Of course I hadn’t moved very far by the time the boat
ploughed into the house.
It was strange how the boat smashed into my house. It was travelling very fast,
but just as it was about to hit, everything seemed to slow down. I saw see the
impact in great detail. I could hear the timbers groaning under the load, see the
walls bow then shatter, hear the death cry of my wife and my unborn child. Not
possible you say, you couldn’t hear from that distance, and over the sound of the
crushing of the building. I don’t care what you say: I know what I know, and I
know what I heard.
I had paused in my running as the boat collided with my house and now I started
running again. The scythe was not in my hands any more. I don’t remember when I
last had it; it’s not important. I ran. As I got closer, I could not see where the house
was supposed to be exactly. It was smeared across the ground. A large part of the
herb garden border-fence was visible and that told me where I should have
expected the kitchen to be. I didn’t know where to start. I just started moving bits
of wall away from where the kitchen should have been. The pieces weren’t heavy.
They were just thin strips of tree bark, woven into a frame and covered with the
special river mud, as my father had shown me, and as his father had shown him.
There she lay in the dust and dirt. She was still warm, but there was no life left
in her. I cradled her head in my lap as I kneeled on the floor. Her legs were not all
there. It was if a wild animal had torn them off up to the knee. I wiped her face
with the corner of my shirt, cleaning off the worst of the dust. She always liked to
be clean and would admonish me severely if I came to the table with dirt on my
clothes, hands or face.
This was her home as much as mine; even more hers really. Yes, I had built the
house, but she had built the home. She added all the little things that made it a
home. The little bunch of scented flowers that hung over the doorway, the window
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covering, the cushions on the chairs. How she would hate to see the house looking
like this. If she were still here she would tell me to clear it up and would keep me
at it until it was done. But she was gone.
She looked unhappy. Her dress was torn and her limbs were left where she had
fallen. She was untidy; I couldn’t leave her untidy. I shuffled around on my knees,
temporarily resting her head on the ground and I straightened out her torso, arms
and legs. I couldn’t cover her legs fully with the tatters of her dress, so I covered
the untidy ends with a piece of curtain material that was to hand. Now she looked
less untidy and somehow she seemed happier. I kissed her full on the lips then
returned to my dutiful position, cradling her head in my lap.
The sun crept silently up over the hills and was greeted by an assortment of animal
and bird noises. These were the first sounds that I had heard since the crash. They
were not necessarily the first sounds to be made, but they were the first sounds that
I had heard.
Her head was still in my lap, but now it was cold. I shuffled back a bit, so that I
could rest her head on the ground and get up. Evidently I had spent the night there,
holding her head in my lap. I felt my face; there were tracks in the dust. I had been
crying, but I didn’t know when.
I tried to stand up, but my body protested; well, more particularly, my legs
seemed unwilling to co-operate. With some ungainly motions of my hands on the
ground, I eventually managed to attain an upright position; now I could see the full
extent of the damage. The house was totally gone, but the animals were all in a
separate building which was intact.
This separate building was her idea. It was normal to have the livestock
enclosure attached to the house; it took less time to build that way and it made the
house warmer. But she wouldn’t hear of it. “The animals are dirty and should not
be near our house” she would say. She also argued that the noise of the animals
would keep her awake at night. Nobody else in the region had their house built like
this, but that was how she wanted it. She always had her way. After all, I loved her
more than life itself and if that made her happy, then it made me happy too.
I made my way across to the woodshed and selected a suitable digging
implement. Although I had never thought of it before, the obvious place for her to
rest was in her herb garden. Much of the low fence remained and actually it was
only a short distance from where she had fallen. I sized up the area for a likely
looking spot and hesitated. Was I going to kill the herbs she had been growing in
the process of putting her mortal remains in the ground? No I was not! She would
not approve of that one little bit. I went to fetch a spade in order to dig sections of
the plants up, complete with their roots. They could be replaced when the deed was
done.
It was not customary to bury people in deep holes, or in boxes, or any such
thing. It just wasn’t possible. There was no spare wood for the task and the soil
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deeper than a man’s arm turned into impenetrable rock. There were no authorities
to say what should be done, no penalties for wrong conduct, really no rules of any
kind other than to just get on with it and try to survive. Well, that’s not quite true.
There was the rule about learning how to fight and wage war; this was religiously
enforced, particularly by the women. If they knew I had been secretly schooled in
the Old Knowledge, then I would have been in big trouble!
It took some time to dig out a suitably sized hole and the action of placing the
body in it is something I do not care to dwell on. Suffice it to say that I placed her
in the hole. Again I covered her legs with the curtain material and I had another
piece for her face. It’s funny, but I could almost swear that she had a slight smile
on her face now. I knew she would be happy that I had done the best I could for
her in the circumstances. I placed the curtain cloth gently over her face and gently
covered over her body with soil. The depth of soil was only going to be two hands,
but this was enough. The herbs would draw nourishment from her remains; this
was the natural order of things.
I heaped the soil a little before putting back the herbs; when the soil settled it
would be almost flat again. I then marked the area with a circle of small stones.
This circle was about the size of an open hand, in other words about the size of a
face, and placed directly above her face. My father had once explained the reason
for this, but it had been some time ago and I didn’t remember any of it too well.
After all, why would a young man need to know about that? Death and dying were
for older people, they were nothing to do with me.
The job was done and so was half the morning. The animals were making noise
again, or probably still, I really couldn’t be sure anymore. As I made my way over
to the livestock enclosure, facing away from the house, everything looked so
normal and yet felt so different.
The animals had not been fed or watered since the day before, and neither had I
for that matter. Suddenly I realised how tired I was; I didn’t have the energy. I
couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t stay here anymore, I had to leave. I opened the
doors on the pens and let the animals go. They all rushed headlong for the stream
and variously splashed about or drank calmly, according to their species and their
nature.
As if at the end of a hard day’s work, I went back to the ruins of the house. I just
pushed and prodded at the ruins with my feet., having no particular purpose in
mind. I didn’t have the heart to search the ruins efficiently. Then I remembered the
supply of dried meat in the storage shed. Emergency supplies really, and this was
the time to use them. There was also a water pouch in the shed, which, when filled
from the river, would make a suitable travelling companion for me.
You may wonder at my lack of inquisitiveness concerning the boat. Well, it was
there, and I was vaguely aware that it was there, but it didn’t really jump up and
grab my attention. I must have been trying to avoid it or something. Maybe it was
the thought that it was some evil apparition out of the sky and should therefore be
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avoided. But really neither of these ideas is correct. It never occurred to me that it
was a carrier of people; people who might therefore be injured and in need of help.
The inquisitive spark that would motivate someone to investigate was absent, but
not so noticeably absent as to make one wonder why one wasn’t curious. If the
truth be told, I was probably just in a bit of a daze and not thinking straight. In any
case, the fact is that I never paid any attention to the boat after it had crashed.
I sat on an upturned box in the shed and chewed some of the dried meat. It had
no taste to speak of, but it felt good to be chewing. The body was happy that it was
being fed. The routine and familiar action of eating was calming and restorative to
a limited degree. I ate my fill of dried meat, and even drier biscuits, and needed
water. The body had a life of its own. It wanted water, and it wanted it now. This
biological imperative propelled the body to the stream, picking up the water pouch
on the way.
The water was pretty clouded where the animals had all stomped around in it.
Since this wasn’t a fast moving stream, the cloudiness would not clear quickly. I
went upstream a short distance to a less accessible spot and, leaning over the bank,
managed to dunk the head of the water pouch below the surface of the stream. The
burbling of the air, rushing out of the pouch to be replaced by water, was almost
hypnotic, but before I succumbed to the oblivion of unconsciousness, I lifted the
quarter filled pouch from the stream.
The cool clear water flushed the dryness from my system and replaced it by
wetness. I over-drank. I drank more than was necessary, more than I wanted, trying
to flush all the dust from my mouth and my mind. No amount of water could do
this of course, so it was a losing battle. Instead, I emptied the last of the water over
my head, trying to wash the dust off from the outside as well. This was only
marginally more successful, so I returned to filling the water pouch. This time I did
not escape the hypnotic effect of the burbling pouch. I slept where I was lying, the
water pouch dangling by the strap around my wrist.
I awoke sometime towards mid-afternoon. The animals were gorging themselves
on the grass. That was ok, they could fend for themselves now. I returned to the
shed to stock-up on supplies for the journey. My water pouch was full, my food
pouch had as much dried meat and hard biscuits as it could hold, and I had my
hunting staff in my hand. I set off on the path to my parents’ farm. I would never
return here, of that I was certain.
It was a two day trip to my parents’ farm and I did not know what I would find
there. It had been more than two winters since I had last been there and seen my
brothers; a lot could have happened in that time. After all, in the space of a few
heartbeats my whole world had been destroyed; my wife, my home, my unborn
baby. Best not to keep raking over those coals.
The trip to my parents’ place inevitably took me through the village and that was
ok too; we had friends in the village who would want to know. It was late
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afternoon as I neared the village. I had seen nobody since it happened and I was
startled to see somebody running over the hill in my general direction. He was a
long way off, but I was surprised to see that he was running. People just didn’t run
in these parts. It’s not that we couldn’t run though. In fact when the winter broke
we would often celebrate its end by having a festival. There would be running,
laughing, drinking; and for the young men there would be girls, left alone for the
winter to mature and now ripe for the picking.
The running man hadn’t seen me, and actually he was heading at an angle to my
path. Where was he going? What was he running to? He surely couldn’t be running
from anything. There were no wild animals to be afraid of, and folks in these parts
would help, not harm, a stranger. Nobody could be in danger around here, but
somehow I sensed that he was not playing ‘catch’ with his children or some such
game. No, this was serious.
As if to underscore this thought, a lance of bright red light stabbed through the
air and exploded in his back. His momentum carried him forward and he fell face
down onto the hillside. What in the name of the spirits was happening today?
Which of the spirits had we offended. Surely it must be the spirit of the air, as the
boat had come from the air and now the very air itself was attacking us.
I ran to the prone body but recognised who it was before I got there; it was
Toban, the merchant of the village. He would trade with other villages, meaning
that we could get things that might otherwise be difficult. There was no rope-plant
in the area for example. It only grew in the wetter areas. We could trade dried grass
for rope and everybody was happy.
Toban was dead. Well, that wouldn’t be a surprise to anybody who had seen a
hole in his back the size of a balled fist. There was no blood, though, and this
surprised me. Why did a wound such as this not bleed? I had seen much smaller
wounds producing rivers of blood. That is when I first saw it. It came running up to
me. It was like a man, but it had a funny shiny head with no eyes visible and it was
making strange loud noises, apparently directed at me.
It was making noise and it was getting louder and pointing some sort of metallic
stick-like thing at me. It didn’t sound friendly and when it pointed the stick at the
ground near to me, the ground exploded; I saw the same angry red light. This was
obviously some sort of weapon and when it was pointed in my direction I was in
danger. It motioned with the stick, as if to have me discard my staff. When I did
not instantly oblige, another lance of fire burst out from the stick and burnt clean
through my staff. I dropped the remaining stump to the ground; it wasn’t going to
be of much use to me now.
Frankly, I didn’t care that much. I was pretty much dead inside anyway, but
some deep-seated desire to survive somehow overcame my temporary lack of
willingness to go on. My body moved in the direction the creature was indicating
with its stick. It kept up this monologue of what it must have thought was
intelligible speech.
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And then it laughed. Was this a man in a strange costume or a demon sent to
torment me?
I was hurried along to the centre of the village where there was more
destruction to meet my eyes. The villagers had been rounded up and were being
sorted into two groups. One group was between the ages of about fifteen to twenty-
five; the other group was everybody else. If anybody protested in any way they
were instantly killed. Bodies were scattered about all over the place. Some had
evidently made a run for it. As I watched, one of the young men made a run for the
hills. But the hills were very shallow in the village area; that is why the village was
there.
The man-monster holding me captive shouted something unintelligible to one of
the other man-monsters. A stick was raised and pointed. The same bright red lance
of death shot out but missed the fleeing villager. The tone of the man-monster
nearest to me sounded louder and angrier. It aimed its weapon and I saw a rapid
pulsing of the red light getting closer to the fleeing youth. When the pulsed beam
touched the youth’s back, the stick hummed with power; the lance of light shot out
from the weapon was brighter and louder now. No small fist-sized hole this time,
the youth just ceased to exist. At that distance we couldn’t see if there were tiny
bits and pieces left behind. There was just this big bang and there was nothing
large left where the youth had been a few moments before.
The man-monster who had just used the weapon turned to his fellow monsters
and laughed. There was no doubt now that it was a man underneath that costume.
At least it had the form of a man; really that laugh sounded so evil that I could
easily have taken it for a demon.
Killing the fleeing individual in that way seemed to have a quietening effect on
the crowd, and on me. It was one thing to be killed, but to be so totally destroyed at
such a distance meant great power. I was placed with the youth group and relieved
of my water and food bags. We were unhurriedly herded along to no easily
discernible destination. Then the boats started arriving, three of them. Two of them
were of the same type, the third being slightly different. They seemed to float down
to the ground, but there was no visible means of support. I’ve seen birds flying,
they flap their wings and they can stay in the air. In this case there were no wings. I
couldn’t worry about that. People were dying here at the hands of these invading
demons.
Two of the boats looked similar to the one that had crashed into my house and
killed… These two boats landed off to one side of the village, whereas the slightly
different one approached our position. It landed and the side lifted up to reveal
many chairs in a row. Each chair had a large hat above it, dangling from a shiny
rope. Ten people were able to be seated at once and as they were seated, the hats
lowered themselves into position over their heads. A light came on at the front of
the hat and something started to hum, quietly but pervasively. The people didn’t
seem to mind this at first. Then there were the first rejects. After a short time under
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the hats some people started to scream and fell out of the chairs. They were only
unconscious for a short period, if at all. Those that experienced this pain or
unconsciousness were separated out from the young group and herded back to the
main general group.
It was my turn to sit on the chair. I was nervous. Would I be one of the ones who
screamed and fell to the floor? Indeed, would I be better off to be one of the ones
who fell to the floor? Should I fake the pain and scream in order to not co-operate?
I wanted to fight, but there were too many people around to see. I could not reveal
my training in the Old Knowledge, lest my own people turn on me. There was no
time left to think. The hat was lowering itself into position. I had been unlucky to
have seen the others suffering, otherwise I would not have been this afraid.
I was a covertly trained warrior, in a land where it was forbidden to be a warrior.
If the others could stand the chair without complaint, then I certainly could too. I
relaxed completely as the hat reached its final destination above my head. It wasn’t
bad at all; in fact it seemed quite pleasant. There were pictures in my head and I
noticed that when I shut my eyes the pictures still came. Closing my eyes made it
easier to see the pictures in fact. There were pictures of many things, wondrous
things and familiar things too, and then there were sounds. The sounds were
related to the pictures and the longer the pictures came, the more I understood. I no
longer cared what was going on around me. The only sights and sounds I was
aware of came from the hat.
The pictures seemed to be moving faster now. Now it was getting familiar and it
began to make sense. The pictures moved faster than I could easily keep up with;
faster, faster, relentlessly faster. I wanted them to move faster still. It was like a
drug; I wanted more. I liked to learn new things and there was so little to learn in
the village. When was Gala going to have her baby? When would be a good time
to plant wheat? These questions did not fill my mind. My life was full of physical
labour in the fields, but when the sun shone, and the wind blew as I harvested the
grass, sometimes, just sometimes, I would look up into the sky and wonder why the
sky was blue, or where the sun went at night. Of course I could not discuss these
things with her; she would scold me playfully and say she needed to find me more
chores. According to her way of thinking, I obviously didn’t have enough work to
do if I had time enough for such wasteful thoughts.
My mind soared with all these new ideas and I accepted them happily. These
weren’t such bad people after all, sharing this precious knowledge with us. But if
these people were so wonderful, why were there so many bodies lying about the
place? It seemed that the pictures were slowing down to a visible pace again, then
all of a sudden they stopped. The Teacher lifted itself away from my head.
Teacher, yes, that was what it was called. It was a Teacher and evidently it had
taught me. I was almost happy and I would have smiled had I not become aware of
the guards hauling another reject from the ground and placing her in the reject
group. I was yanked back to reality from the sojourn in my own mind. I saw the
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bodies lying around the village and I was back to how I should have been, angry!
This gift of knowledge was truly magnificent, but it did not compensate for the
harm that had been done here today.
In all, about a third of us passed through the Teachers without difficulty. The
sergeant spoke to those of us that had passed the Teaching test.
“Congratulations people, you have been selected to serve the free City of
Arslykus”. Hey, he had suddenly started talking sense, rather than the gibberish he
had been talking earlier!
“You have just had a session with one of our learning machines. It has taught
you our language in a matter of a few moments. We have the secrets of the
universe to share with you and all we ask is total service, total obedience and total
loyalty. We of the City welcome you. These collars that the corporal is bringing
around, show that you are one of us. Put them on.”
One of the older youths stepped forward. “I don’t want to be one of you. You are
murdering bastards and I hope the land opens up and swallows you.”
This errant youth was put in his place by the strategic application of a rifle stock
to the back of his skull. The collar was put on for him by the soldier. Pretty soon
we all had collars on. The sergeant continued his speech. “These collars have
another function; they stop you from being bad. Let me show you what happens if
you are bad.”
He had a small control panel in his hand and the collars caused an incredible
pain to sweep through my body. It can only have been for a short fraction of a
second, but the pain was like nothing you can possibly imagine. Let me try though.
Get the idea of having your feet placed in a roaring fire, whilst your eyes are being
gouged out and the skin on your arms is being peeled back to expose the insides of
your body. And whilst all that is going on, your insides are being pulled out
through a hole in your abdomen, and your genitals are being crushed in a vice. This
is just a glimpse of the pain, but only a glimpse.
“If you want to avoid any further entanglements with this collar, then do what
you are told to do, when you are told to do it. Then you may get on in this new
world that you have found yourself in. … Ok, load up. Everybody into the shuttle
and we’ll be off of this dirt-ridden, shit-hole of a planet.”
As we headed towards the shuttle, the soldiers formed up into a column and
marched off towards the other two shuttles, leaving the villagers to clean up the
mess. Unrestrained now, the villagers rushed to their fallen friends, relatives and
loved ones.
It should come as no surprise to you that we all filed obediently into the rear of
the shuttle. Nobody had the spirit to fight back after the collar had been tested out.
We hardly noticed the airtight door as we filtered in past it and somehow we all
knew to strap ourselves into the seats when the signs came on to do that. We all
had little vid-screens set into the seat-backs and there was an image of the villagers
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dispersing or kneeling by their loved ones. I looked away. This was a painful sight
for me as well.
There was absolutely no sensation of motion and yet the view of the village
seemed to get more distant. It was as if the shuttle had effortlessly risen straight up
above the village. The image of the village was replaced by the face of the
sergeant.
“Now you belong to Arslykus. There is no place to run, no place to hide and
there is no going back. I want to prove to you that there is no going back.”
The view changed back to the village from a great height and off to one side. We
could see the whole of the village in one glance. The sergeant’s voice came
through the loudspeaker system.
“Fire!”
The whole area on our screens lit up red. There was an enormous explosion and
leaving just a crater where the village had been.
We all sat there for a moment in stunned silence. Then the same youth who had
previously said ‘no’, unbuckled his seat belt and made for the front of the shuttle.
The sergeant was waiting for him. The sergeant had removed his helmet and he
grinned as the youth bored on towards him.
“There’s always one hero and I kind of figured it would be you again.” With
that, he activated the remote control in his hand. The youth was writhing around on
the floor trying to scream in agony, but having no ability left to control his body
sufficiently to utter a coherent scream. All that emanated from his mouth was a
kind of incoherent gurgling sound.
The sergeant then assumed his lecturing voice again. “The trouble with this
collar is that you can’t leave it switched on for too long. If you do, the person will
lose his memory. Longer than that and he becomes a vegetable, unable to look after
himself anymore. Now this boy is just a trouble maker and he would never have
made it up there.”
At this point he gestured upwards with his head. “He is better off out of it. In
any case, the collar has been on for too long now, so there wouldn’t be much left of
his mind anyway. Too bad!”
The youth had stopped writhing by this time and was just lying still, eyes
staring, drool coming from his mouth and a damp patch appearing around his
groin. The sergeant moved over to the now still form and did something that I
couldn’t see. I heard a high pitched whine though, and as he backed away he had
the boy’s collar in his hand.
The sergeant’s voice smashed the silence. “You two.” Oh no! He was pointing at
me and the girl sitting next to me. “Pick up THAT and bring it over to the door.”
We obeyed in double quick time. The sergeant activated a control on the wall
and the door slid back silently into some unseen hiding place. The wind noise from
the doorway was surprisingly low. Apparently some sort of force field
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automatically erected itself over most of the doorway if the door was opened in
mid-flight.
The sergeant motioned for us to throw the body out the door. We hesitated for
the briefest of moments before throwing him out. After all, he was virtually dead
anyway. We were doing him a favour really. At least that is how I excused my
actions to myself.
We went back to our seats without further comment. We didn’t look at each
other; we didn’t talk. I don’t think I even knew who the girl was. I certainly didn’t
know who the youth was, and frankly I didn’t want to know. So far today I had
seen more people killed or dead than I had often seen alive in one place at one
time. I didn’t want to get to know anybody on this shuttle. It seemed to me that this
was just the beginning; that more of us were destined to fail in some way or
another. The game was rigged and we were all losers.
I had time to think now. There was no going back, this had been made
abundantly clear. There was no escape, that’s what the sergeant had said. But what
about the shuttle that crashed into my house? That was fired upon by something up
there. Now they weren’t about to waste a good shuttle for no good reason and that
meant only one thing: there were dissidents up there and they could get access to
shuttles. Not only that, but they could also fly them. Maybe there was a Teacher for
flying a shuttle. After all, if a whole language could be taught in a few minutes,
then surely learning to pilot a shuttle would be easy.
Maybe there was no escape. Maybe we were all doomed. But then again, maybe
there was going to be a chance to strike back. Nothing trivial you understand. That
would not be enough. An opportunity to take out the sergeant, that would even the
score a little, but it would not be enough. No. I would wait. I would do whatever
scum-sucking obnoxious task they set me, in order to stay alive. I would bide my
time and learn their weaknesses. They must have weaknesses and I would seek
them out. Every waking hour would be devoted to this task. They had taken my life
and the lives of others and they would pay; oh yes, they would pay with interest.
This I silently vowed to the spirits of the air, to the spirits of the water, to the
spirits of the soil. This I vowed to my beloved wife, to my unborn child and to
myself. THEY WOULD PAY!
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2 City
I sat quietly, neither thinking nor moving. I suppose everyone else was doing the
same thing, but I just wasn’t aware enough to notice. The view on the vid-screen
was looking fairly blank until the sergeant’s rasping voice broke through my
lethargy. “Ok, listen-up people, this is your new home.”
From a previously blank view of space, the monitors suddenly showed a vast
ship. We could tell the scale by the other shuttles. It wasn’t just our two shuttles;
there must have been at least twenty. Some of the other shuttles were different to
the rest. Some looked like big tanks with engines on. Another style looked more
like a wagon to haul heavy rocks.
The big ship was a flattened cylinder, an ellipse in cross-section, and the shuttles
seemed to converge on both ends. Most of the outer ship surface was dark and
smooth, but the slightly pointed front end was heavily pock marked. It looked as if
it had been in many battles. There were all sorts of strange looking devices sticking
out of the front end of the ship. At this stage I did not know what they were. I just
figured that they were weapons. What else would they be?
Most striking of all was the view as we headed for the other end of the ship.
There, blazing in all of its glory, was the central Dome. Bright, white and shiny, it
stood in stark contrast to the outer hull of the ship. The pock marks meant that the
City had enemies. Good. That meant that I had potential friends.
The shuttle reversed into its allotted berth and the airtight door at the rear
opened with a groan. We were directed to follow one of the lower ranking soldiers
and did so obediently, heads down so as to not attract attention to ourselves. At
least they weren’t pointing guns at us any more. We were split into male and
female streams and headed off in separate directions. We met up with other men,
presumably from other shuttles, and one of them spoke to me. “Hi, I’m Gra…”
His enthusiastic greeting was cut short by a pained gurgling sound. I didn’t want
any trouble; I didn’t want any friends; I didn’t want to get involved. I stepped over
his writhing body and never looked back.
The corridors were not clean and bright, they were dull and dirty. There were
stains on the floor of unknown types: Blood? Urine? Vomit? I didn’t want to think
about that too deeply. I didn’t want to notice that several of the lighting panels in
the corridor were not working and that there was water leaking from a couple of
the drinking fountains along the way. This place didn’t look as well maintained as
one would imagine for a rich, high technology society.
Soon we came to a large room with benches around the outside. A man in a
white coat was running the show. “Right, strip off those rags you are wearing and
push them in the disposal chutes nearest to you.”
We all did this with some trepidation. Since we had never been naked in public
before, it didn’t seem decent. One younger boy just sat there. I noticed for the first
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time that the collars were numbered. Five alpha-numeric characters, that’s a lot of
collars. The white-coated individual pointed at the boy. “You, get a move on!”
The boy didn’t move. Now the white-coated man pulled out a control pad from
his pocket and pressed a couple of keys. I was close enough to see that he didn’t
key-in the entire sequence of the boy’s collar. Somehow the control pad had to
know which collars were in the area and as soon as it had the collar sufficiently
identified it became selected. He activated the collar for just a brief burst and the
boy was kick-started into action, undressing faster that anybody else.
There we stood, naked, around the edges of the room. Some of the boys had
erections briefly and were suitably embarrassed by this. We were herded into the
showers, where jets of water came from all directions. We walked down a long
tunnel of showers. First they were plain water, then they had stuff in them that
tasted bitter and was dark, then they went soapy, then they returned to plain water.
As we emerged from the tunnel, we were handed disposable towels to dry
ourselves with. I noticed something interesting. The guy handing out the towels
was wearing a collar. I looked more closely, the guy in the white coat was wearing
a collar as well. Now our collars were white and the control pad that white-coat
had was also white. But white-coat himself had a green collar.
We formed a line again to have some inoculations, now that we had been
cleaned up. Another medical technician was there with a strange looking
inoculator. It had a handle with a detachable disc on it. He would jam the disk into
your left shoulder, then eject the disk into a waste bin and fit a new one. This did
not look like a pain-free process, at least not the way he was doing it, but nobody
was about to complain about it. There were a few yelps as he slammed the device
into the shoulder, but that was all. When my turn came, I steeled myself for the
pain and managed not to let out even a whimper. I felt proud that I had achieved
this modest level of control. My shoulder was a little sore and there were five tiny
blood spots where the inoculator had done its work.
Now we all had to line-up around the outside of the room, all still completely
naked. An impressive looking figure came in through a side entrance. Dressed in a
flowing shiny white robe, he wandered around as if he owned the place. All the
attendants lowered their gaze as if not to offend the dignitary. And before I did the
same I noticed that he was not wearing a collar. A Founder; the true enemy at last!
He selected three of the younger boys, all with fresh skin and gentle features. They
followed him out of the same side door that he had entered by.
The chief white-coat then spoke to us all. “That was a Founder, in case you
didn’t realise. They have very little patience. You do exactly what they say, as soon
as they have finished saying it, if you value you life.”
He said this, not as a command, but more in fear. The Founders frightened him.
This place was run on fear. And evidently the higher up the command chain you
got, the scarier you were.
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We passed into an outer room where we again queued up, this time for clothing.
We were given a single-piece rough cloth tunic, more like a long shirt really. It
came down to my knees, but as they only came in a couple of sizes, it varied from
person to person as to how well they fitted.
The next operation was to cut off excess hair. There were five chairs arranged in
the centre of the room and there was hair strewn all over the floor as white-coated,
white-collared workers hacked away at peoples’ hair to make it uniformly short.
Those with beards, like me, had the extra step of having them shaved off. Then
everybody got to spread white cream over their faces. I assumed this was some sort
of an anti-infection cream, in case we had been cut by the shaving process.
We were split up into groups of ten and marched down a corridor into a sleeping
room. Now we were in the charge of somebody new. He spoke less harshly than
the others. “Find a bunk and get on it. Lights out in 10 minutes.”
Somebody spoke up timidly. “But I only got up three hours ago.”
And another, emboldened by the previous outburst, chimed in. “And I haven’t
eaten all day.”
The yellow collared assistant instructor came back into the room. “Who spoke?
Come on out here, now.” Nobody moved. His hand toyed with the collar controller.
“Look, you do as you are told, when you are told. No complaints. No back talk.
You’ll live a lot longer that way.” On that last, his face softened slightly and he put
the control pad away. “You have to get used to your new life here on Arslykus.”.
I took a top bunk. At least I had eaten that day and it was not too early to rest. I
stared at the ceiling and soon the lights went out. There was the muted sound of
crying from elsewhere in the room. It had been a hard day for everyone and I had
no doubt that it would not get any better in any great hurry. There was nothing else
to do but wait and watch.
I was awoken by the sound of somebody screaming. Not the most pleasant of
sounds to start a day, it has to be said. The lights seemed to have a different quality
to them now, more like daytime. I had not slept well in those alien surroundings, so
I did not feel well rested and able to face the rigours of the day. But it wasn’t like
anybody was giving me any choices here; it was get up now or get punished. That
is what the screaming was all about. The assistant instructor had returned and this
time he was exercising his thumb on the controller. I watched his face as he
pressed the button on some other recalcitrant individual. He liked it! He liked the
sense of power and he liked to inflict pain. I also noticed that he was not very
impressive physically himself, whereas his victims tended to be both muscular and
athletic. If push came to shove in a physical contest, this assistant instructor would
get flattened.
Maybe this observation indicated a survival mechanism on this God forsaken
hell, be inoffensive and unnoticed. Argue about nothing and don’t appear as a
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threat to anybody. I resolved to hide my physique. Years of working in the fields
had made me strong; strong enough to be a threat.
More than that, as a youth I had spent a few summers on my uncle’s farm. He
had a particular crop that spoiled easily and he annually collected up relatives from
the area to help bring in the crop swiftly. Whilst we were there, my brothers,
assorted cousins and I were secretly taught to fight. My uncle had fought in the
Last War. This was the war to end all wars, and true enough there had not been one
since. And whilst my uncle was himself no longer able to fight, having lost an arm,
he passed along the Old Knowledge of the fighting ways. We could not discuss
this training with anyone of course. To teach or learn the Martial Ways was against
the law. Although there were not many laws, this was one that had widespread
support and which would be enforced.
We could not tell our parents, or even our future wives, lest we betray our
forefathers. These ancient ones had painstakingly gathered and accumulated the
Old Knowledge over the course of the centuries. So now I was a Keeper of the Old
Knowledge, but I was warned never to reveal the secrets for fear of my life. Now
that was at Home, but here it was worse. If an instructor found out that I could kill
with my bare hands, then most likely his trigger finger would get jittery and I could
end up being dumped down a disposal chute.
Aghh! I had been day-dreaming; drifting off, back to happier times. Happier
times; they weren’t difficult to find, any time before two days ago. I was dragged
back to reality, the here and now, by a sharp burst of pain down my left side. I must
learn to stay focused. I had the urge to leap up and grab my tormentor’s throat; to
snap the ball of my foot into the side of his head; to grab that flapping arm of his
and break it at the elbow with a blow from my forearm. Calm. Think calm. Look at
the floor. Be meek and mild, for only the meek and the mild would survive.
I pulled the blankets back and jumped clumsily to the floor. It was not going to
be very clever to land on the floor like a mountain cat ready to strike. I landed like
a sack of cabbages. Probably I couldn’t have landed like a cat if I had tried, but it
gave me some satisfaction to know that I had achieved my purpose of being
undetected. Maybe I just had an over-inflated view of skills in the Old Knowledge.
In reality I had never tried it out in anger, only in practice with my cousins. But
that had been many summers ago.
We were all lined up and the assistant instructor marched us down more dirty
and derelict looking corridors to a remarkably smelly room. This was all the worse
because we had not been given any shoes. We had to walk barefoot through the
toilet activity remains present on the floor. The assistant instructor barked rather
than spoke. “This is the toilet. I suggest you use it.”
This was not the sort of toilet that the Teachers had explained, but it was more
like the sort of facilities I was used to at home. After all, at home a toilet was a
hole in the ground for the solid stuff, and for the liquid stuff it was just any
convenient patch of weeds.
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This toilet facility was all metal and just consisted of a long trough near one of
the walls. It had a strong flow of water in it. The general consensus seemed to be
that you stood with your legs either side of the trough and pissed in to it, then
squatted to take a dump. The most unpleasant thing about it was the smell. Well,
no, the smell was bad, but even more unpleasant was the fact that we had no shoes
and the banks of the trough were splashed with urine where people had missed, or
where the velocity of the solid waste had displaced some liquid from the trough as
it entered.
It was a walk-through facility. We went in one way, did our business, then went
out a nearby exit that took us through a foot-bath and mat system. This at least
ensured that we did not walk stale urine down the corridors.
We then walked down the corridor a bit further and were ordered to put our
robes down a chute. All naked again, we were marched through a shower. This was
different from the one yesterday, in that there was no bitter liquid in the jets. The
shower jets were very refreshing though, and it was nice to have a fresh robe on
after the distasteful experience in the toilet.
Cleaned, dried, and back in the same type of rough attire, we were marched
down more corridors to another hall. This one had rows of rectangular benches in
it and a serving counter. We were presented with a mug of water and a bowl of
slop; I don’t know how else to describe it. It was grey-white sticky slop. It tasted of
nothing, it smelled of nothing, but it probably had some nutritional content. I
resolved to it eat all, lest I get weak and fail to do some trivial task an instructor
gave me.
There were several groups of us here, one group of ten per table. Each group had
an assistant instructor in charge, and over them was the instructor. All the assistant
instructors were Yellows and the one instructor that we saw was a Green. In all,
there were ten tables in the room, all of which were filled. It was not at all clear if
these were all new ‘recruits’ or whether some had already been here. There could
also have been other eating facilities and others could have used this one before or
after us. There was just no way to estimate the total size of the group. I could not
get an overview of the situation. But then again, what use would it have been to
me? Here I was on an alien space-ship. It may or may not have still been in orbit
around my Homeworld, but that wouldn’t really have made much difference would
it? I couldn’t run home across open fields or swim home across some mighty river.
The barrier was a fall greater than a man could survive. I had learned enough to
know that I was trapped here and that there was not a lot I could do about it at the
moment.
My mission for now was to observe and to survive, but not in that order. I
should be more in control. I must first survive. Next I must observe, but not at the
expense of my survival. This was the correct sequence. There was only one way off
of this prison and that was by shuttle. I could either learn to fly one, or go with
someone else who knew. This second option had two possibilities: the pilot could
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be a friend helping me, or the pilot could be forced to take me. Oh, I suppose I
could pretend to be a legitimate passenger, so that would make three possibilities.
If I just sneaked on board as a stowaway, I guess that would be a fourth
possibility. This was a lot of possibilities, but since I didn’t know where I was
relative to the shuttles, and I had no friends, no weapons, no local knowledge and
no medium of exchange to buy assistance, I really didn’t have much going for me
in the escape department. My best course of action was to avoid needless
speculation and to concentrate on the business of survival. Food was a top priority.
The mug and bowl were of the same plastic material. They looked old and well
worn, and were not entirely free of scratches. I had never seen the material before,
but I knew it was plastic. It felt strange to the touch, slightly warm and slippery.
This was quite unlike any material I had ever seen before. Under different
circumstances I would have paid good money to have such items. But now, here,
they seemed cheap and dull, only for the lowest of the low. That is of course what
we were, the lowest of the low.
It was obvious now that white collars were the lowest, followed by yellow then
green. Perhaps there were other colours in between, but there were probably
colours above because this was almost certainly not the whole command structure.
I was absorbed in my eating and thinking. This was getting to be a bad habit. I
missed the earlier part of the exchange. One of the recruits on a nearby table had
stood up. “This slop isn’t good enough to feed a pig. If you want it, you eat it.”
This outburst obviously took the instructor by surprise. The bowl landed near his
feet and the merest spot landed on his uniform. Oh yes, I forget to mention, whilst
we were in these long shirt-like sacks, the assistant instructors had fitted tunics and
trousers, whilst the instructor had an even better looking uniform. The spot at the
bottom of his trousers looked almost inconspicuous, but he looked at it intently. He
carried on looking at it for an eternity, or at least it seemed like an eternity. And
then, as if in slow motion, he looked up, instinctively pulling up his controller. The
offender had a table between him and the instructor so there was no immediate
danger, but there were muted sniggers coming from around the room. The
instructor vigorously pushed a button on the controller and we all slumped where
we were, pain wracking our bodies. He only gave the whole group a relatively
short burst, but while we were recovering he was then able to key-in the individual
code for the perpetrator.
This brought us back down from our temporary victory. Nobody was allowed to
win anything here; there were only losers. Some lost more than others and in this
case the perpetrator was carried out by two conscripted ‘volunteers’. If the
instructor looked at you expectantly, you’d better help out. It would have been nice
to get through any particular new activity without somebody getting wasted.
I drank the water to wash away the remnants of the food. Best to think of it as
food rather than as slop, in case I should accidentally say what I was thinking at
any time. A wrong word here could be a serious, possibly fatal, mistake. The water
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tasted bad. The slop, I mean food, didn’t taste, but the water did. That was the
wrong way around. The water was tainted. It had something in it that shouldn’t be
there; probably several somethings.
The instructor decided we had finished eating. Factually not everybody had, but
when he told everybody to get up and that we were leaving, nobody argued. Thank
goodness for that. I had seen enough killing before breakfast. As we were
obediently filing out of the room, I saw some bedraggled looking individuals
coming out to clean up the tables. They were dressed as we were and had the same
white collars. They evidently had been here longer than us, as they looked worn
down, crushed and broken. It is a terrible thing to see a man who has had his spirit
crushed. To see that vacant look of hopelessness in this dead eyes. How long
would it take for us to look like that?
We went out of the hall in our groups of ten, with our own individual assistant
instructors leading the way. I noticed that the assistant instructors had name badges
on their tunics; ours was called ‘Jing’. The groups were all apparently going to
different places. At least my group didn’t go where any other groups were, so I
assumed that the same was true for the rest as well. We were taken to a hall with
benches up both sides. It was otherwise fairly featureless. There were no markings
to show what the room was used for, but the smell was overpowering. It was urine,
vomit and shit, but in what proportion I wouldn’t like to say. A trained nose would
perhaps have been able to tell how old each component was. My nose was just
overwhelmed by the stench. My olfactory senses tried to shut out all smells, to
spare me the unpleasantness of having to experience this malodorous assault.
Perhaps this nasal shut-down would have been successful, but we were given
small scrubbing brushes and buckets with which we were expected to scrub the
floor and benches on our hands and knees. The scrubbing brush was ridiculously
small, with a head the size of two fingers placed side by side. This was not going to
be a quick job.
The floor had some sort of plastic film on it, but its thermal insulation properties
were not good. The floor was cold and it sucked the life out of my knees within
minutes of me starting on the chore.
Jing sat at the far end of the hall, toying with his collar controller. He had it
attached to a cord around his wrist so that he couldn’t accidentally drop it. He
seemed to get bored sitting at that end of the hall and wandered down to where we
were. His voice was rasping and gritty. He wasn’t in a happy mood today. “That
idiot who threw food at the instructor has got us all in trouble. Despite the fact that
he was from another table, we are all still in trouble. Now when I get into trouble
then you get to suffer, got it?”
Nobody answered. Nobody wanted to speak up. This time he seemed to want an
answer. “I SAID GOT IT?”
This time there were muted mumblings from all of us. This appeased him for a
moment. “That’s better. Now keep working, but listen. These controllers have a
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dead-man’s switch built into them. When I activate this one, the collars will all be
triggered if I let go of the button.” He pushed a few buttons on the controller.
“There, it’s going to be active in three seconds.”
He waited until the last moment before putting his thumb on one of the buttons.
He grinned. “This means that I can walk amongst you, and if you decide to grab me
then my finger will slip and you’ll all get zapped.” He walked amongst us to prove
his point and some stopped scrubbing. “Keep working!”
His voice was getting higher in pitch and volume. This guy was not all there.
There was something deeply wrong with him. He was mentally unstable. We kept
scrubbing at the ingrained vomit and shit on the floor. The urine was mixed in with
it, but did not need as much scrubbing. What was this place?
The action of wetting and scrubbing the dried vomit and shit only served to
heighten the smell and because it was changing all the time, it was still registering.
This was not a pleasant job. I tried to divert my mind to something else, but this
was one job where I could not just drift off to earlier times. Present time was just
impinging on me too greatly.
We had been scrubbing away for half the morning. The only break was when the
water in the bucket became dirtier than the floor. Then we had the luxury of getting
up off our hands and knees and walking to the end of the room. There the dirty
water was poured down a drain and the bucket and brush rinsed with clean water
from a hose. The bucket was then re-filled from the hose and the scrubbing
continued.
Jing came back down amongst us and wandered around, as if inspecting the
work. One of the men stood up. “Why can’t we just use the hose and wash down
this area? We could do the job really quickly and it would be much cleaner than it
is now. The dirty water we are washing the floor with is just spreading the stuff all
over the floor.”
It has to be said that this was a very sensible idea and I could see suppressed
nods of agreement from the others around me. What wasn’t sensible was telling
Jing how to do this job. The collar controller was lifted menacingly up and pointed
at the foolish individual who had spoken. This was only done for dramatic effect,
of course; the controller didn’t need to be pointed at anyone in particular or in any
particular direction even. It had the desired effect however. The man knelt back
down and resumed his scrubbing.
This was not good enough for Jing though, oh no. He went over to the side of
the man and gave him a good kick in the ribs. Not a gentle tap, but a hard kick. The
man rolled over on his side, clutching his ribs and moaning. The man by his side
went to help him, but Jing wasn’t about to let him do that. “Who told you to stop
working. Get back to work.”
Helping out your fellow prisoner here was not too smart. You had to look out for
yourself and keep quiet. The less attention you brought to yourself, the easier and
longer your life would be. We all tried to carry on scrubbing, but Jing had other
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ideas. He held his left arm high, holding the controller, and with his right hand he
undid the front of his trousers and pulled out his dick. We all tried not to notice,
but it was not a very impressive specimen of manhood. He then proceeded to piss
over the back of the man who had tried to help out. We were all naturally disgusted
and appalled by this treatment. Who could do such a thing? Jing looked around at
us as he continued to vent his bladder. “Keep working. Nobody told you to stop.”
When he was done he put his dick back where it belonged and returned to his
position at the far end of the hall. He must have deactivated the dead-man’s switch
because he was no longer holding the controller. By the time he reached his chair,
the guy with the sore ribs had rejoined the scrubbing party, albeit at a greatly
reduced speed.
It was difficult to judge time here. There was no sun to follow, no temperature to
gauge, but it seemed as if we had been scrubbing the floor for most of the day. We
were all more than hungry. Hungry was hours ago; now we were into the
faint-for-lack-of-food category.
Evidently we had missed our mid-day meal, but Jing had not. He had eaten some
sort of food several hours ago and he had not been particularly discrete about it
either. This had just heightened our sense of outrage at the whole situation.
Whatever this floor scrubbing was all about, it had nothing to do with getting the
floor clean!
One of my fellow prisoners couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t stop scrubbing,
but he did shout out. “When are we going to get fed?”
This brought Jing back to life. He leapt up from his chair. We were practically
up to his desk anyway, so he didn’t have far to travel. “Who said that?”
The errant youth waved his brush and spoke more quietly. “It was me sir.”
It was a fair number of hours since Jing had pissed on the other fellow. Nature
being what it is, he evidently had accumulated some more urine. “You’ll get yours
now. Lie down flat on your face.”
The youth was reluctant to do this, as the floor was still caked in filth, but he
complied with the command; he dared do nothing less. Jing stood by him, the
collar controller conspicuous as ever. He moved one leg over the unfortunate
youth, straddling him, and dropped his own trousers. This time there was not only
the urine over the youth’s arse, but to add to the indignity, he then squatted above
the youth’s head and took a dump on him.
This was too much for another member of our group who charged from across
the room. He didn’t even get close. We all dropped under the onslaught of the
collars. When I came around the charging youth was still writhing, but nobody else
was. Jing was still dumping on the youth.
And then the instructor came into the room. Taking a dump on your workers
must not have been a totally correct procedure, but it was unclear just how much of
the other treatment we had been getting would have been sanctioned by the
instructor. Certainly Jing had overstepped the mark now. The instructor was
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confronted by the sight of Jing, with his trousers down, dumping on one of his
charges. And another of his charges was destroyed by the collar. It is not clear
which was the greater excess. In any case, the instructor pulled out his own
controller and put Jing down. This didn’t help the youth, of course, because Jing
landed quite heavily on top of him.
We were not galvanised into action at this point. We would have liked to help
out, but that had proved to be an unsafe thing to do. Jing was just left to stew with
the collar on full. There were now two still, semi-dead corpses in the room. The
instructor gestured for us to free the youth from the weight of the fallen form of his
ex-assistant. We didn’t need to be told twice.
The instructor looked about him. “Use the toilet at the end of the hall if you want
to, and use the hose to clean yourself up if you need to.”
He motioned for us to move to the far end of the hall. It was the same open
trench toilet as before and since we had not been able to go since the morning, we
all took the opportunity to drain our overly inflated bladders and vent our bowels.
This was a considerable relief let me tell you.
The instructor then marched us back down the corridor to the food hall. We were
the first ones back and therefore we were able to start eating before all the rest
arrived. The food was different now. It was solid and in differently shaped and
textured parts. It was all completely foreign to us, but we were all starving hungry.
Fortunately there was nothing particularly objectionable about the food. It was
relatively tasteless, but it was filling.
I looked around the other tables. There was plenty of time for this because we
had started before the others by several minutes. Additionally, I had eaten my food
before all the others on my table, so there was no reason why I couldn’t now look
around. I noticed that all the other tables were full, apart from the one with the guy
who had thrown the food this morning. Our table was missing two. Not a good
record. When everyone was finished the instructor took our group back to the
barracks. That was it for the day evidently. It had not been an easy day, that’s for
sure.
I was tired when I climbed into my bunk. Somehow, we all seemed to choose the
same bunks as the night before. It sort of gave a sense of ownership. It was my
bunk. Today there had been less death and misery than yesterday, although that is
not saying much. The only thing that one could say about it is that it did hold out a
small amount of hope for the future. Even the fact that the instructor had taken out
the assistant instructor for inappropriate behaviour was slightly encouraging. There
were at least some standards here, even if the justice system was somewhat hard
and unforgiving.
I lay awake on the bunk, staring at the nothingness visible on the ceiling when
the lights were turned out. The nothingness was empty and without form. It would
have engulfed me had I not succumbed to the pull of sleep.
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The next day came quickly enough and I found that I was more rested than the day
before. It was the instructor who came to wake us up this morning. Presumably he
had not found a replacement for Jing yet. We went through the same routine as the
day before; toilets, shower, clean robe then food. It was nice to have some
prediction of what would happen. This somehow made it seem as if things were
under control.
Today we were in a different part of the City. A new assistant instructor, Drak,
had been assigned to us. He was nowhere near as sulky as Jing and he had no
doubt heard that Jing had overdone it. I hoped that we would have an easier time
today.
Today’s task was unloading a container of soil and loading it into some storage
bins up some stairs at the end of the room. This soil looked familiar; I had the idea
that it had been taken from my Homeworld. The look, and feel, and smell of it all
seemed familiar. This task was another done just for the sake of it. We were given
ridiculously small “buckets” to carry the soil in. Each bucket was only marginally
larger than a man’s hand, more like a cup in fact, and yet we had to move a large
container full of soil. This container was larger than a man’s height in all
directions.
Needless to say we were not in any great hurry to unload the large container. I
guess we collectively figured that we would be here all day and that we would not
get fed until the evening again. We paced ourselves for it. This work was much
more agreeable to me than yesterday’s work. I was used to dealing with soil; it was
my business, so to speak. Whilst part of me hated the idea that my Homeworld had
been pillaged, another part of me was placated by the thought that there was at
least a little bit of Home going along with me. Of course there were others from my
planet going along too, but I did not wish to think about these other people. If I got
to know them, then it would only be harder when they were unceremoniously
murdered.
This was a job that I could do in my sleep. Like an automaton, my body
continued to move back and forth carrying the bucket. I drifted off into memories
of my childhood.
There was an area near our home where the crops would not grow. The soil was
red and loose, and father had said that it was bad land, that nothing would ever
grow there. But to me and my two brothers, Korrin and Yarpon, it was a great
place to play. Korrin was the eldest and Yarpon the youngest, and we would play
until the sun went down in the red sandy soil. We would bury one another in the
sand with a hollow reed to breathe through and see who could take it the longest.
We used to leave just one hand exposed, so that the buried individual could signal
when he wanted to be let out.
We only played this game during the spring months. It was too hot in the
summer and too cold in the winter. It was a strange game my uncle had showed us,
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but he never did say why. He just said that our parents would be unhappy if we told
them, so he swore us to secrecy. We were only nine, seven and six years old
respectively, so it was a good game to have secrets from the adults. I had never
thought of it until now, but my uncle had been up to something all along! Crafty
old devil. He never did explain what it was all about, even after we became
Keepers of the Old Knowledge. I guess this was something you just had to realise
for yourself. I was amazed that I had not spotted the connection to the Old
Knowledge sooner.
We played the game for only a few minutes at first, it was overpowering. The
feeling of isolation, of being crushed, of being unable to move, of being helpless.
Uncle had cautioned us that in order to play the game, you had to stay in the
ground for as long as you could, but that the other players had to let you out when
you signalled. This did not seem to be such an important promise. He made us
swear not to deviate from this rule. You always had to let the person out when he
signalled.
We all got better at the game as we played it over the years. Eventually Korrin
and I could stay in the ground all day, but Yarpon could only stay in the ground for
a few hours. One day, we put him in the ground late in the morning and went off to
play at the other end of the sand pit. When we came back, he was waving his hand
frantically. As soon as we saw it, we looked at each other and ran to dig him out.
The look of terror on his face was something I will remember forever. It was
frightening just to look at him.
It was Korrin’s idea. We both picked him up and walked him around, each of us
holding an arm and supporting his weight. We were scared, not so much for
Yarpon, but for ourselves. What would we tell our parents? How would we explain
when we had been sworn to secrecy? It was difficult to know what to do. We just
kept walking him around. We must have walked him around for at least two hours
before he spoke. “You left me!”
We both apologised and we meant it. He was shaking so violently that we tried
to hold him still and failed. Then he just went limp and fell to the ground crying.
We just sat with him, even after the sun had gone down and we were expected
home. We couldn’t take him home like this. Eventually he stopped crying and we
felt able to take him home. We brushed the sand from him as we took him back.
It was very late when we found our way back to the house. It was a dark night,
but we could see the lamp burning in the doorway and we knew which way to go.
Our mother greeted us gladly, then madly. She was happy that we were all safe.
When she was content that we were all safe, she was then mad that we had worried
her so much by not coming home before dark. We were all very bad for causing
such trouble.
Father had gone out to look for us in the dark. We were all sent to bed without
food, as punishment for being so late. This was something of a relief actually; this
way they wouldn’t get to see the state Yarpon was in, and we might get away
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without having to answer any awkward questions. Fortunately, Mother was able to
call Father back by the simple expedient of banging on a big sheet of metal. This
made a jarring noise that could be heard many fields away.
When he returned, I don’t know. But when morning arrived, Yarpon was back to
normal and we had already been punished, so everything was ok. We never did
play that game again, and we never did tell uncle that we had left Yarpon
unattended either.
I had spent the whole day drifting off back to my childhood and it had made the
day pass by very easily. Surprisingly it was easier to remember my childhood than
it was to remember the events of the past few days, weeks and months. We were
fed and put to bed as usual, and it was another restful night for me.
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3 Space
The next day followed the same routine as before. Toilets, shower, clean robe,
breakfast, then down strange corridors with assistant instructor Drak. The
difference today was that the walk down the corridors was considerably longer, the
destination being a room with some sort of garments hanging up on the walls.
Their function was not at first clear; we had not had any explicit Teacher training
on whatever they were.
Drak stood in the centre of the room. “Each of you pick a spot around the room
and hook your robe up on it. Remember where you place it, so you can pick it up
again afterwards.”
We were getting used to this constant public removal of clothes and it was not
such a problem now. Drak beckoned for us to come over to a table at a far corner
of the room. There he selected a suitably sized pair of heavily padded under-pants
for each of us. “Put these on. They should stop you rattling about too much.”
It was certainly more comfortable having my tackle secure. As we were putting
these on, Drak moved on to an adjacent table and again beckoned us over. This
time we were given a very lightweight white fabric garment to put on. It was
actually in two parts, a trouser section and a top. We had the sizes individually
selected by Drak. By the results, you could say that he was very good at his job.
Each was just pulled into place without ties, fasteners or gaps. This time there was
no question of them fitting badly on some and not others. The garments were tight
to the skin, but not oppressively so. They were incredibly elastic, so they went on
easily, but fitted very tight to the skin.
Looking around at each other, we looked very well dressed. No wrinkles, no
bagginess, just a perfect fit. There were no explanations, just orders. There were
nine of us in total, but there were at least twenty suits hanging up around the walls.
Again, they were in two parts. This seemed to make the selection of the parts
easier.
First came the bottom halves. We all formed a queue behind Drak and he led us
around the walls where the suits were hanging. The bottom half consisted of a pair
of trousers, with a pair of boots built in. It was a hard shiny material finished with a
vivid yellow and orange pattern. Each pattern was markedly different from the
others, some being stripy, others blotchy and others having interesting geometric
patterns on them. They were either quite attractive or garish, depending on your
tastes.
Drak pulled a bottom half down from the wall and lined it up against the first
man. No, too big. He tried the next man. No, too small. The next man; ah, just
right. “Ok, take this back to where you left your robe and wait.”
The rest of us followed Drak around the room and the measuring process was
repeated until we all had bottom halves. The bottom halves were surprisingly light.
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I had expected them to be much heavier because of their size. Drak then called us
back. “Ok. Leave the bottom halves where you are and come back here.”
We hurried back to him and we started the circuitous journey again, only this
time we were selecting top halves. The top halves were not quite so colourful, but
they did have big numbers on the back. Just two digits though, front and back.
Again we had the size selected for us and we returned to our places.
“Ok, listen-up. These are space suits. They are designed to keep the air inside.
Remember, there is no air outside this wall.” With this he pointed to the far wall to
show where he meant.
The Teacher had just brushed on the ideas of air, space and vacuum. I did not
think that I understood them that well. There was no air in space. How could you
breathe? Where did the air go? Who took it? You couldn’t see air anyway, so how
did you know when it was gone? It was all a bit confusing really. The fact that
Drak was mentioning it meant that all these problems must have been solved. It
was important that I pay attention. If I was going to a place that had no air then I
was in danger of not being able to breathe. This was not a healthy state to be in!
“Put on the bottom halves of your suit.” It was quite clear which way round the
suit was put on, but even so a few managed to try to put them on backwards. These
slower recruits soon realised their mistake and pulled off the bottom halves in
order to start again. With the smooth undergarments in place, the suits slipped on
quite easily, but they did not fit at all. You could not walk very easily in them; your
feet rattled about in the boots and the legs. They also came up the abdomen very
high, just short of the armpits in fact.
We all stood around with these sloppily fitting bottoms on, looking at Drak.
Perhaps his selection skills were slipping. When the last man was done Drak was
in the middle of the room addressing us. “You now have to activate the bottoms.
You’ll notice that there is a rectangular lump near the top on both the left and the
right sides of the bottoms. Grab the lumps in each hand and press the button on the
bottom of each. Press them both at the same time. Do it now.”
It was quite awkward to grab both lumps because they were fairly high up, but I
managed it, and when I pressed both buttons the suit came alive! It was very scary.
The material was shrinking around me. It contracted to form a tight grip around
various strategic parts. Now it didn’t rattle about. The joints were flexible, but in-
between the material had become harder and ribbed with vertical channels. It was
as if air ducts had been formed down the suit, allowing the skin to breathe. This
was impressive. One youth fell over after he activated his suit, but when the
contraction was complete, he was able to pick himself up quite readily.
It felt like we were dressed for battle in suits of armour. The lower half of my
body was cocooned and safe. This just made the upper half of my body feel less
secure. I noticed first on the others, and then on myself, that the suit had become
very heavily ribbed around the mid-section. It was as if there were hoops in the
material to give it strength. It was not clear what their function was though.
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“Ok. Now for the top half. The pack goes on your back. Put them on.”
The pack referred to was a rectangular box, built into the back of the suit. It had
no visible openings on the outside, but there did seem to be stuff visible on the
inside. I just did what I was told and didn’t get too inquisitive however. Again the
tops were a very loose fit and I had the idea that they would contract as well.
Correct fitment would not be an issue. The trouble was that the tops had mittens
built into them. There was a space for the thumb separately, but all the fingers went
together. It was therefore going to be difficult to activate the top halves.
As each of us became ready, Drak wandered around and activated the tops by
clutching the lump on our left shoulders. We may have been able to do this
ourselves, but it was a lot easier for him to do so, given that he didn’t have thick
mittens on.
It was now clear what the ribbing near the middle was for. The two halves
interlocked at the middle using the ribbed area to get a good grip on each other.
Parts of the bottom expanded, whilst the top contracted, and the joint felt very
solid. If I had known much about air pressure and vacuums then I might have been
worried about all this, but in my ignorance I was happy with the arrangement. I had
a nicely armoured body now. I was feeling very safe.
“You won’t be needing your collars for a while. There is the equivalent of a
collar built into the suit, so we are going to get the collars removed now.”
An old guy, with a black collar himself, appeared from nowhere and began
undoing the collars. These were placed down on the bench, under the hanging
robes. When it came to my turn, the old man came up behind me and rotated the
collar until he found the correct point. All I heard was a high-pitched whining
sound and a quiet click and the collar was off. I was very glad to be rid of it, even
if it was only temporarily. I looked at what he did to the collar on the man next to
me. He had a small tool in his hand and he placed it next to the collar. There
appeared to be no physical connection between the two devices and this magical
feat was evidently completely beyond my understanding. But then again, suits
which could shape themselves around your body at the touch of a button also fell
into this same category. My sense of wonderment was being driven into overload;
even the most remarkable things were beginning to seem normal.
We were all now collarless and suited up. It was quite easy to move about now
and the extra weight was not a burden. Drak again stood in the middle of the room
and gestured for us to join him. “Ok, the next task is to give you helmets. You can
then go outside.” Again he punctuated the speech by pointing to a door at the end
of the room; a somewhat heavier than normal circular door, it has to be said.
“When you have your helmets on you’ll be protected from space. Take them off
and you’ll die horribly. I suggest that you don’t try to remove your helmets or suits
when you are outside. Now, if you need to talk to me when you are outside, then
just talk and I’ll hear you. You’ll also be able to hear me. You are not able to talk
to each other. You’ll hear what the others saying to me, but at reduced volume.
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Don’t knowingly interrupt unless it is an emergency. If you need to get information
to somebody else then tell me. There are numbers on each of your suits. When you
talk to me, I’ll know which one of you is talking. Don’t talk at all unless you have
to; somebody else may have something important to say to me. I’ll be watching
you on the monitors.”
He didn’t point to the monitors, but we could see picture screens near the end of
the room. There was a table set up facing the monitors, with a chair nearby. We
were going somewhere and he was staying here. That meant only one thing really.
Wherever it was that we were going, it was either unpleasant or dangerous;
probably both.
“There is just one other thing, remember your number so you know when I am
talking to you. When I talk, you’ll all hear what I am saying. …And if I say ‘shut
up’ then I mean it.” He moved over to the wall behind him and opened a locker.
There were helmets inside. He called us over and handed out the helmets. These
were not as size critical as the suits apparently. They were shiny and black; a very
hard material. You could not see through them from the outside, so I wondered
how we would see out when we had them on. It was not even clear which way
round they went. When we all had them in our hands he started up again. “Hold the
lump on the side in your left hand and pull the helmets on over your heads. When
they are correctly seated, push the button on the top of the lump to seal the
helmet.”
The helmets had a skirt at the bottom made of the same material as the rest of the
suit. It looked as though it would seal in the same way that the top and bottom
halves of the suit joined together. I could see from the other mens’ suits that there
were features on the suit that would allow the helmet skirt to join to them. Sure
enough, when I activated the helmet control, the material flowed around my
shoulders and gripped on tight. That was good. I should have hated for it to fall off
when I was outside! I was surprised to find out that I could still see; pleasantly
surprised. The material, which you couldn’t see through from the outside, was easy
to see through from the inside.
We all sealed our suits without incident. These suits were nicely designed so that
even somebody completely unfamiliar with them could use them immediately. We
were ushered down the hall with hand signs from Drak. Whilst we were putting on
our helmets, he had put a small band over his head. This covered one ear and had a
bent stick coming around to the front which ended just in front of his mouth. Its
function was not evident until he began to talk; we heard him.
“System check. One: Do you hear me?”
‘Yes sir.’
“Two?”
‘Yes sir.’
“Three?”; “THREE?”; “Four?”
‘Yes sir.’
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“Four. Kick Three in the shins gently to attract his attention”
‘Yes sir.’
Four dutifully kicked Three in the shin.
‘Ugh.’
“You who just got kicked. You’re Three.”
‘Ugh, yes sir. Sorry sir. I…’
“Shut-up!”; “Five?”
‘Yes sir.’
“Six?”
‘Yes sir.’
“Seven?”
‘Yes sir.’
“Eight?”
‘Yes sir.’
“Nine
‘Yes sir.’
“Three?”
‘Yes sir.’
“That’s very good. Now, all of you move to the far corner of the room. One:
Open the locker doors. Two: Move the units out onto the floor. We want nine
units, one per person. Three: Close the locker doors after Two has moved the units
out.”
Three was disorientated and was facing in the wrong direction. He was the only
one who was like this thankfully.
“Three: Stop where you are. Four: Close the locker doors. Five and Six: Go to
Three and point him towards the lockers.”
Like baby-sitters, Five and Six gently moved Three around to face in the correct
direction. I felt sorry for Three. Oh, by the way, I was Seven. Two had put the units
out in a line and Four had closed up the lockers. The units looked square from the
side, about as high as my knee and as wide as my leg. They had a nozzle on the end
of a wide tube. Although the nozzle could evidently be directed, its function was
not clear.
Drak continued. “Each of you pick up one of the plasma depositors.” We moved
over and picked-up the nearest unit to us. “Take them over to that door at the end
of the room.”
We marched up the room, carrying the plasma depositors, not having a clue what
we were supposed to do with them. Somehow, I seemed to be slightly in front of
the others. “Seven: Move to the left side of the air lock and open it with that door
release.” There were only two square controls on the left side of the door. One was
labelled ‘Close’, and it was five times bigger than the little one above it, labelled
‘Open’. I pressed ‘Open’ and in response the big circular door swung slowly open
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towards the others. The hinge being on the right side, I got to see into the airlock
before the others; not that there was anything in there to see.
Three was not with-it again, and Nine had to grab Three’s arm and pull him back
out of the way of the opening door. Drak was not amused. “THREE! Wake Up!”
‘Ugh, what, er, yes sir.’
Drak’s voice was all we had to guide us now. There could be no more hand
signals. “All of you, inside the lock. Seven, you’ll find the ‘Close’ switch just
inside the entrance where you are. Use it when everyone is inside and clear of the
door.”
‘Yes sir.’ I found the switch, but this time both switches were the same size.
There was only a faint light in the airlock, but the switch itself was illuminated. As
the door closed the light level began to drop until beams suddenly shot out from
our helmets. Wherever we looked, the beam followed. If you just moved your eyes,
then you could fool it, but as you turned your head the beam moved too. Of course
if you just turned your head, the helmet did not move. The helmet was rigidly fixed
to your shoulders, but it was transparent in all directions.
The writing in the helmet was much more visible now that it was dark outside
the suit. There were labels; ‘Int Air’, ‘Ext Atmos’, ‘Power’, ‘Telemetry’, ‘Gravity’.
Next to the labels were numbers, but the significance of these was not clear. All the
numbers were 100%.
“Seven. Activate the depressurisation control.”
‘Yes sir.’ There was a hissing sound and I noticed that the ‘Ext Atmos’ number
was dropping rapidly. The hissing sound had ceased several moments before the
readout hit 0%. The suit now felt stiffer when I tried moving.
“Nine. Open the exit hatch, the controls are right next to you.”
‘Yes sir.’ Nine activated the control and the door swung outwards. It was dark
outside, but we were not yet outside the ship. There was a staircase visible up
ahead and it seemed to curve until it was at right angles. Nobody could walk up
that! You would fall off before you even got half way. Maybe that was what the
rail was for. You had to hang on and drag yourself along.
We all moved out of the airlock and stood at the base of the staircase. Two
closed the door and we waited for Drak’s orders. “Now I want you to listen very
carefully. You are to walk up the staircase. You use your left hand on the rail and
you look at the next step on the staircase. Don’t look up. Don’t look at the men in
front. Just look at the next step on the staircase. Seven, you go first. When you get
to the top, open the outer hatch.”
He called out our numbers one by one and I suppose the guys followed me up
the stairway. I did as I was told and looked only at the next step all the time. I also
noticed that the ‘Gravity’ number was moving about quite a lot as I moved, but
mainly in a downwards direction. It had reached around 0.6 by the time I was
getting close to the ceiling. I didn’t look ahead until I got close to the top. Just
when I thought I was going to smash my head into the top of the ship, a panel with
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a control on it came within reach. I activated the control and a rectangular panel
above my head slid away to reveal space.
My first view of space filled me with awe. I just stood there staring at the
extreme blackness, punctuated by pin pricks of light. The stars never looked like
this back at home. I would have stood staring at the stars all day, if the silence had
not been broken by Drak’s voice over the comm system. “Move along. Don’t block
the stairway.”
I moved clear of the stairway and resumed my gazing up at the stars. Soon the
others had joined me on the back face of the ship and we all stared out into space.
All except Three. He had taken one look and fallen to his knees. Drak gave us a bit
of time to get used to it before continuing. Three had by then regained his
composure to some degree and had stood up.
“Look about you. You are on a safe area of the back of the ship. The safe area is
marked by a big green ellipse. If you go outside the green ellipse, the gravity will
drop off very rapidly. Don’t leave the green area. You should feel lighter than
normal. The gravity here has been set to about half of normal. You should be able
to work in your suit without getting tired as quickly. Don’t try being clever and
running or jumping. If you break free of the local gravity field you’ll just drift off
into space and nobody is about to turn the ship around to go and get you.”
“It looks as if we are stationary. We are not; we are moving out of this solar
system at great speed. The thing is that both you and the ship are moving together;
you therefore don’t notice the speed. The unit in your hands is a repairing device. I
couldn’t show you how it worked inside because it only works in a vacuum. Its
purpose is to seal up damage done to the metal plates you are standing on. The
metal gets hit by small chunks of rock and it gets damaged. Your task is to fill over
the dents and scratches in the surface.”
“Nine is going to demonstrate. Everyone else move back from Nine.”
We all moved back from Nine and the effect was to create a circle around him.
“Ok, that’s far enough. Nine, locate a dent or scratch on the surface and let me
know when you have found one.”
Nine pottered around for a few moments and ceased only when he had selected a
suitably sized gouge. ‘Got one sir.’
“Right. Now, point the nozzle at the gouge, leaving a gap at least as big as the
width of the nozzle. When it’s set up, press the control at the base of the nozzle.
Now, when you squeeze the handle, a stream of very hot metal will come out of the
nozzle. It’s a plasma of Duralloy, the same metal that this part of the ship is made
from. Don’t let the plasma come in contact with your suit or it will cut a hole
straight through. Just keep squeezing the handle and moving the nozzle about until
the gouge is level. Start when you are ready.”
Nine was very cautious. He tilted the unit forward to line up the nozzle, then
used his spare hand to press the control at the base of the nozzle. There was a
temporary flash of intense light, then the light went down to a comfortable level. I
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noticed that my visor had darkened only around the intense light from the plasma
depositor. We were all watching intently as Nine filled up the gouge. When he had
finished, he relaxed his grip on the handle and the plasma stream ceased. The
gouge was nowhere to be seen.
“Good job Nine. Ok. The rest of you, spread out and start filling in the damaged
parts.”
We separated and spread out across the back of the ship. It was not a featureless
flat surface that we were on. There was actually an elliptical pattern of huge
nozzles sticking out of the back; the main boost engines. Fortunately these were
not firing at the time.
I headed out towards the edge of the green area and from there I could see some
of the rest of the ship. The section we were on was flat, but the flat section turned
by nearly a right angle a short distance outside the green enclosure. It curved
gently back until it joined a section of different colour, the elliptical main hull. I
could not see enough of it to make out the overall shape, but then I had seen it
from a distance already, so I knew where I was.
I started filling gouges and pits; slowly at first and then as my confidence grew I
became faster. I was working my way along gradually when I saw a huge crater.
Much larger than the gouges I had been filling. I was concerned. It was deep, very
deep. I could have stood in it and the tops of my boots would have been covered,
by which I mean the bit of the boot just above my toes. This hull must be very
thick here. ‘Sir. This crater is very deep. Much deeper than the normal ones.’
“Yes I see it. You need to adjust the plasma stream to give a greater rate of flow.
Put the unit down and look at the large sides. On one side there should be a rotary
control recessed into the middle.”
‘Yes sir. I see it, sir.’
“It should be pointing to ‘Normal’. Turn it to point to ‘Heavy’. It should click
when you have turned it enough.”
It was difficult to turn the knob with the heavy mittens on, but when it was in the
correct place I felt it click through my gloves.
‘Done that sir.’
“Good. Continue with your work then and when you have finished with that big
area, turn the plasma unit back down to Normal.”
‘Yes sir.’
I didn’t really notice what the others were up to. I was concentrating on the
plasma depositing. I didn’t want to cut a hole in my boot and now that the plasma
beam was so much wider and more powerful, I had to be even more careful. It was
like spray painting the hull with metal. The plasma spray produced a very thin
layer of metal which went on very evenly. I assumed that because it was so hot, it
would just bond with the existing material and form a good-as-new repair.
Even though the depositor was on its maximum setting it took many hours to fill
the hole. I was going around and around the crater in order to give it a nice smooth
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finish and an even coating. It must have taken all of the rest of the morning and
some of the afternoon to complete this task.
I was tired by now; dangerously tired. Several times I had not been paying
enough attention and had nearly let the plasma touch my boot. Now I was done on
the crater. All that remained was a smooth surface. Any place that didn’t look
smooth got a bit of plasma sprayed on it. The finished result was very pleasing. I
felt I had achieved something.
I stooped down to re-adjust the depositor back to a fine spray and that is when I
heard Three. Well, I didn’t immediately know it was Three, but when I heard the
scream I looked up and Three was running. There was a faint trail of gas or vapour
visible, emanating from his left boot. He had cut his boot! The plasma depositor
had been thrown upwards and had just kept going. I turned my attention back to
Three.
He ran, despite Drak shouting at him, telling him to stop. Three probably didn’t
hear Drak as Three was yelling so loudly himself. There was no need for it. It was
only a small leak which could easily have been patched, I’m sure. No, this was
blind, unthinking panic. He ran to the edge of the green border and continued. He
was running so fast that he couldn’t stop. After he passed the green border, the
next step took him up and off the ship. The gravity was not as strong and it just
couldn’t hold him at this speed. He just ran out into space.
I was surprised that he didn’t just continue travelling in this same direction, but
he very rapidly seemed to fall ‘upwards’, away from the ship. So much so, in fact,
that I lost sight of him in just a few moments. After a long silence, Drak’s voice
broke the mood. “That was unnecessary. We have lost valuable equipment because
of that incident. I told you that the ship was moving fast. Even though space out
here is virtually empty, the ship moving through it tends to increase the
concentration of particles just near the edge of the hull. We are travelling so fast
that being hit by these nearly stationary particles gives you quite a push and that is
why we lost Three so quickly. Anyway, he is gone, so carry on with your work.”
I was looking around and I really realised the significance of the numbers inside
my helmet for the first time since I had put it on.
Int. Air: 33%
Ext Atmos: 0%
Power: 68%
Telemetry: 85%
Gravity: 46%
The air was getting low, but everything else seemed fine. The gravity was half
normal, that’s what Drak had said. This made sense. Without knowing how much
longer we would be out here it was difficult to know if the air quantity left was
good or bad. I thought I’d better mention it.
‘Sir, my air is down at 33%.’
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“Hmm. That’s not very good. Ok everybody, check your air reading, bottom left
corner of your helmets.”
“One?”
‘40% sir.’
“Two?”
‘30% sir.’
“Three? … Four?”
‘34% sir.’
“Five?”
‘25% sir.’
“Six?”
‘27% sir.’
“Seven?”
‘32% sir.’
“Eight?”
‘12% sir.’
“Shit! Nine?”
‘18% sir.’
“Well, I guess we are going to have to call it a day. Deactivate your plasma
depositors by pushing the button at the base of the nozzle again. When you have
done that, slowly head back to the air-lock.”
We trudged back to the air-lock. Four arrived first and activated the ‘Open’
control by standing on the pressure plate. This made sense, because nobody was
about to bend over to activate the control with his hand and the control could
hardly be expected to be on a stalk sticking out of an otherwise flat featureless
deck section.
The heavy single-piece outer door slid back noisily. Not that we could hear it, of
course, but we could feel it through our boots. The next task was to get back down
the impossible staircase. This time I was not first and it was impossible not to look
at the others ahead. We were holding on with our right hands this time and
carrying the plasma depositors in our left hands.
Somehow, as they were walking down the stairway, they were tilting. They tilted
more and more. Surely they would fall off. I should shout out to warn them! No. I
bit my tongue and gritted my teeth. This was the same way we had come up. There
was nothing actually wrong. It was meant to be like this. Drak had told us not to
look because he knew we would be disorientated. ‘Down’ was changing as we
walked along the staircase. We did not even notice that we were turning a corner.
The gravity number bounced its way back up to 100% on the way down.
Even though I could sort of understand the sight, it still made me feel a bit
queasy. I was glad when we made it back down to the air lock. The air-lock door
was open by the time I arrived. When we were all inside it was closed and the lock
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was refilled. The air could be heard coming back in and there was a slight
loosening of the suit as it relaxed its grip on the air inside. Soon the ‘Ext Atmos’
number was back up to 100% and the inner door was opened.
We marched out and were instructed to leave our plasma depositors out in a row,
with no explanation given. Drak had us come along to the lockers where the
helmets had originally come from and he activated the release, putting the helmets
back into storage himself. We then went back to our clothing area and waited for
the old man to come back.
We had finished earlier than expected, so the old man had not yet arrived. We
just had to sit and wait for him to come. He burst through the door, all in a puff,
several minutes later and started the job of putting the collars back on. This was a
much simper task than taking them off, as no tool was needed. They had been left
un-latched and just required to be put around the neck and clicked shut. He was
muttering to himself as he worked and he left in the same sort of state a few
minutes later, having completed his task.
Drak now came around and de-activated the suit tops. We just removed them
and hung them up where we were. The same thing occurred with the bottoms. The
white elasticated garments were removed in front of a chute and both halves were
deposited down the chute as soon as they were available. We had to move along to
another chute to remove and deposit the padded under-pants.
I couldn’t help noticing that one of the removed pairs was noticeably yellow on
the inside, although it was clear that none of the yellow stain had reached the
outside of the material. Anyway, removing the under-pants left us naked and
rushing back over to our robes for some protection.
We had some time left before food was due, according to the schedule anyway.
Personally, and I am sure I speak for the rest as well, we were well overdue for
food, again. Drak looked unsure as to what to do with us. “Does anybody need to
use the toilet?”
A chorus of instantaneous responses filled the air. Of course we did! He
marched us down a few corridors and there was a toilet facility. Not the same one
we had used this morning, but a serviceable facility just the same. This was the
biggest relief of the day. The idea of peeing in the suit and having to wallow in it
for the rest of the shift, was good enough reason to maintain bodily control.
Evidently somebody had not succeeded in maintaining this control and the purpose
of the padding in the under-pants was now clear. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been
that bad after all.
After this we were just marched around the corridors aimlessly for an hour or
more, killing time before food was due. We followed the same pattern of eating
and going back to the bunk room as previously. This was all uneventful,
thankfully. Two casualties in two days. At this rate it would be a wonder if I
survived until next week.
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By the next morning, I was getting used to the routine. I was resting satisfactorily
at night and not feeling too bad generally. Yesterday had actually been an exciting
day. It had been an amazing experience to walk about in space and see the stars up
so close that I felt I could almost touch them.
We followed the daily routine and started off down more corridors for our day’s
assignment. What would it be today?
I was feeling almost happy and yet bad things had happened quite recently,
hadn’t they? I had the idea that things weren’t quite right, but I couldn’t quite put
my finger on it. I could remember yesterday well enough, and I could remember
back to my youth when I lived with my parents, but in-between was a bit vague.
Oh well, never mind; I was sure it would come back to me.
We came into another large open chamber, with only one main entrance visible.
There were small offices visible along the walls, but these did not seem to go
anywhere. At the end of the room were more Teachers. These seemed more
sophisticated than the ones in the shuttles. They had heavy cables attached to them
and somehow seemed more robust. Having said that, there were chips knocked out
of the side of some of them. Others looked cracked and scratched. It looked as if
somebody had picked up a chair and tried to smash the Teachers. Why? They were
wonderful devices. A truly marvellous invention. It would have taken me years to
learn what I now knew. How much more could I get from them?
The instructor addressed the whole group. Today, for the first time, all the
groups had come to the same place. “Things are different now that you have
survived this long. Nobody is killed if rejected. We want to find out what you are
capable of and give you work to suit your abilities. We want you to be productive
citizens.”
With this he directed the first four into the chairs. Given that there were just
under a hundred of us, it was going to take a reasonable amount of time for all of
us to get a turn with a Teacher. Thankfully there were also chairs provided for us to
sit on whilst we waited. It was clear that although there were going to be no rejects
who were killed, well according to the instructor they weren’t going to get killed,
there were certainly rejects. Almost everybody in the chairs experienced some
visible discomfort although none passed out. I suspect that some were trying to
hide the pain because they did not cry out, even when their faces were contorted by
the pain.
There were no lights on the front of these Teachers and they did not hum when
working. I can only suppose that those were features of the ones designed for
non-citizens. It probably was some sort of trickery to keep the natives happy. It just
let them know that something was happening.
It was late in the morning before I had my turn. The odds were dramatically
worse this time; last time two thirds had failed and up until now all but one had
failed. Last time the rejects had been killed. This did nothing to calm my nerves. I
called upon my training in the Old Knowledge. There was a ritual to prepare a
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warrior for battle. In battle it was not good for a warrior to be fearful; careful, but
not fearful. It was necessary to be fluid in motion, sure of step and concentrating
on the battle to come. My uncle demonstrated this to us very graphically. In this
case I was the first victim for the experiment…
“Joran, do you see that pot over there?” My uncle had pointed to an unattractive
pot on a high shelf on the side of the building.
‘Yes, uncle, I see it.’
“Good. It contains a deadly poison, left over from the Last War, for which there
is no cure. If you should break the pot, the poison will escape and not only will it
kill all six of us, it will also kill the women in the house and all the animals on the
farm. Be VERY, very careful. I want you to bring the pot over to me.”
I walked over to the pot, which was on a shelf slightly above head height. I
reached it easily with my hands but found it to be quite heavy for its size. I was
sweating as I brought the pot down to my waist level and yet the day was not even
warm, let alone hot. I painstakingly brought the pot over to my uncle. It seemed to
take an eternity. I stood before him proud that I had completed such a dangerous
mission. The others were noticeably stiff, as if ready to spring-up and catch the pot,
should it slip from my hands. He whispered in my ear, “Joran, the pot is only filled
with water. It’s perfectly safe to drop it and it has no particular value. Put it back
on the shelf, but say nothing to the others.”
I rushed back to the shelf and popped the pot on it without a care in the world. It
was better this way, everybody had a chance to taste the fear and see how it
affected his performance. It went the same way for my brothers and the last one up
was my cousin Lorram. Lorram was short, the shortest of us there. He had a much
harder job getting the pot down from the shelf, but nevertheless he succeeded in
returning with the pot intact.
My uncle then addressed us all. “When I told you that the pot was filled with
plain water, I lied. The pot does in fact contain the deadly poison I told you about
earlier.” I don’t know about the others, but I felt the blood drain from my face as I
realised how carelessly I had handled the pot.
As soon as Lorram was back and in range, my uncle waved his arms wildly and
screamed. Lorram staggered back a step and partially released his grip on the pot.
He fumbled with the pot and it fell to the floor, cracking open as it hit the hard
ground. Pungent black fumes poured from the container and we all ran for our
lives. Everyone except for uncle of course. He just stood there. We were scattered
to the wind and practically into the neighbouring farms by the time we heard his
laughter and realised we had been had. One by one we stopped running and turned
to slink back to our former positions. I was one of the last to return, simply because
I had run further and faster than the rest, giving me further to slink back.
Uncle assumed his former dignified posture. “Now listen, you can’t always
believe everything you are told. Even if you trust the person telling you, it’s
possible that somebody has lied to them or that they are mistaken. Check
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everything yourself, if you have the time, or if you are able. That’s the first lesson.
The second lesson is fear. Did you all notice how badly you performed when you
thought that the pot was dangerous and how well you performed when you knew it
was safe?”
We all nodded assent, in a muted shy sort of way.
“Good. That is the second lesson. Fear numbs the mind and the body. It makes
you unable to function properly. You must be aware of the danger and not put
yourself at unnecessary risk, but you must not succumb to the mind-numbing
qualities of fear.”
“We have an ancient way to combat the fear, passed on through the generations.
My father taught me, and his uncle taught him, and my father’s uncle was taught
by some other Keeper before that. This has been going on for centuries. It is an
ancient Knowledge that must not die because of the fear of a few old women who
jump in the night at the howl of the wolf.”
“We have a chant with a special name that you’ll not have heard: It’s called a
mantra. At first you say the mantra aloud to learn the words. Before a battle you
repeat the mantra to yourself, without saying the words out aloud. In time, when
you need the mantra, you’ll think about it and that will be enough; you’ll not even
need to recite the words to yourself.”
“This is how it goes…
I am a warrior. I live and will die as a warrior.
Fear is for women and children.
Bring on the enemy!”
As he said the words, I noticed his back straightening up and the tone of his
voice becoming somehow stronger. We repeated the words out aloud, over and
over in the group and then individually, proving to my uncle and ourselves that we
knew it. He finished off the session in a quieter tone of voice.
“Remember that you are Keepers of the Old Knowledge. Not all of you will get
the chance to pass it on. Some of you may die before you get the chance, but there
will be some left to pass it on. It’s a duty that comes with the Old Knowledge; you
must pass it on when the time is right. But do not tell just a part and leave out the
rest, and do not speak of it to impress others. That is not its purpose. Now, consider
what you have learned today. Go.”
Back in the present, I walked over to the Teacher. This recollection had used up a
lot of my preparation time and I could only think of the mantra. But now I had seen
much and lived to tell the tale. Last time I had been with a Teacher I had enjoyed
the learning; I would do so again. I would let the information flood over me and it
would not harm me. The stiff tree broke in a strong wind; the tree that bent with
the wind survived. I could bend a little to survive.
This time the Teacher lowered itself more unsteadily. The information started
flowing faster, sooner. Ah! The Teacher slid down on bearings, the bearings
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needed lubricating, that was why the transmitter head looked wrong as it came
down. Technical information flooded into my head, but had no substance. It was
there, but not there, at the same time. Somehow it was vague and unreal, except for
those things I had seen and touched. Now I was beginning to understand the
problems of this place. Although the Teacher had not imparted much of the
workings behind the devices, it did explain how to fix them. The relative lack of
success of getting people to learn the skills was partly why this region was so
badly maintained. Out of about half of us, say fifty people, only two had actually
attained the full information. Others consciously or unconsciously rejected the
information; this caused them pain and meant that they were not suitable for
whatever it was that the Founders wanted us to do.
Whilst the testing continued, the two of us, successful graduates of the Teacher,
were separated out from the rest and directed to one of the side rooms. What
happened to the rest, well that’s hard to say specifically. I may have seen some of
them again later, but I really wasn’t paying specific attention to anybody other than
myself; so maybe I did see them again, who knows?
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4 Filicia
Only two selected from over half the group so far tested. That was not a very high
pass ratio. We walked together to the side room, with the other fellow leading
slightly. He had, after all, been the first to be selected, although that was just by
random chance. My mind was operating on a new level now. I could think in terms
of statistics and probabilities. I was still diverted by the new concepts whereas the
other fellow had had sufficient time to assimilate the data. It’s a funny thing, but
even my recall of these later periods is more literate, more articulate, more
eloquent than my earlier recollections. This is something which I find impossible
to explain.
No windows were visible in the side room we were directed to. No extra
illumination was required, however, because as we entered we were greeted by a
smile that lit up the entire room. She was scantily clad in some lustrous white
material that shone and sparkled as the meagre light caught it. I had never seen
such beauty, either in the dress or in the woman.
Her blonde hair fell about her shoulders in a glorious cascade of wild abandon.
Then I fell captive to her eyes. These were a shade of translucent green I had never
seen before, or since for that matter. Her face and hands were shaped subtly
differently too, but these differences were positive not negative. She was the most
beautiful woman I had ever seen; she was more beautiful than any woman I had
ever imagined. Wow!
I was getting over my initial reaction to the woman and rather than stare at her, I
managed to look around the office a little. It has to be said though, that she was
like a magnet for my eyes. Even as I tried to look elsewhere, my eyes kept being
pulled back to glimpse her beauty once again.
It was an oddly shaped room, with the desk to our left as we came in. It looked
as though the room was actually a corridor, but the lighting was even worse further
up, so it wasn’t clear if there was anything interesting in that direction.
The other fellow with me was also taken by the sight of the woman. She had
gestured for us to sit down in front of her desk and whilst I had done so, he went
around to her side of the desk. He moved up close to her and grabbed her arm. She
spoke very firmly. “Get back to your place Technician.”
But he knew what he wanted. He reached up and grabbed for the front of her
dress and she squirmed to get away. Evidently this beautiful and lightweight
material was also somewhat weak. The fabric tore in his hands and revealed her
unsupported, but proud and firm naked right breast. She screamed and I, to my
shame, just gawked.
Two armed guards immediately came from the gloom at the end of the room,
reaching her before I could even think about getting out of my chair. They were
large, larger than was usual, and dressed entirely in black. They were the exact
antithesis of the woman. Whilst she was beautiful, seductive, ethereal; they were
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dark, menacing, too real for comfort. Their heads were covered by helmets, and the
mirror visors meant that their faces were not visible. These were not people to
mess with. They grabbed the offending technician and, without particular regard to
the woman’s condition, dragged him from the room, having first used his head as a
target for their rifle butts. I didn’t understand why they didn’t have collar
controllers themselves. I didn’t know where they were taking him, and whilst I
wanted to know these things, I thought it best to keep quiet.
The woman, relatively unfazed by the attack, had by now re-covered the naked
flesh, perhaps with the use of whatever she had just replaced in the drawer of her
desk. As she settled back into the chair and shuffled with the keys on her computer
console, I noticed that the high neck ruffle on her dress was only partially
concealing her yellow collar. She smiled again to restart the proceedings, but the
smile had lost its former magnificence. “I would like to welcome you to the real
City. Where you were is not at all representative of the City. My name is Filicia
and I am the hostess. The first thing I should do is register your name.”
She looked at me expectantly. Although it was obvious that I was supposed to
answer at this point, I just went blank. I had not recovered my wits from the
sensory overload to which she was unknowingly subjecting me. Her figure, her
looks, her dress, and yes at this distance her smell too, all these stimuli were
intoxicating.
I knew I had a name, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. After an unnecessary
delay it appeared. ‘Joran,… son of … Mordan.’ I stumbled on my first attempt, so I
tried again with more success. ‘I’m Joran, son of Mordan’
“I am pleased to meet you Joran, son of Mordan. For entry into the computer, I’ll
put you down as Joran Mordan. I’m here to help you get settled into your new life
here in the City. The first thing to do is to get you a new neck ornament. That way
you will not be mistaken for one of the subordinate workers. The next thing we’ll
do is get you some clothes and an apartment. When we have done that, perhaps we
might find you a companion.”
My mind reeled; a companion, what did she mean? A guardian? A friend? Or
did she mean a female consort? I wasn’t about to question her. She stood up and I
stood too. She indicated a direction with her arm; this direction took us down to
the end of the room and around the corner to the right. I knew that the corridor
went somewhere now because, although I had not seen where the guards came
from, I did watch them as they dragged the unconscious form of the other
technician down the corridor.
We turned the corner and there was a massive door with ‘4’ painted on it. Two
very large armed guards, dressed in black and with mirror visors on their helmets,
stood on either side. I supposed that these were the same two guards I had seen
earlier. They were the same size and shape, but with the mirror visors there was no
way to tell one from another. One activated a control and the bulkhead slid back to
allow us through, then closed rapidly after us. Again we turned a corner.
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Questions kept popping into my head faster than I was getting answers. Why
didn’t the Teachers give us a full map of the City? Why was I going to get a new
neck ornament? And what had I done to deserve a companion? It would take some
time to piece it all together and this of course was a lot to do with it. Keep
somebody in the dark as much as possible and they are dependent on you.
We very rapidly came to a small office with an old man in it. But I could not
follow the twists and turns we had taken to get there. The layout of this place was
bizarre. Corridors intersected with other corridors at weird angles and at irregular
distances. I would never be able to find my way back to Filicia’s office from here.
The old man was fiddling about with collars at a work desk. There were bits of
collars and components scattered about the table in a rather haphazard fashion. I
even recognised some of them; most of them in fact. Yes, that was a capacitor, that
was a resistor, a micro-miniature transductor, a balun, a … a … an I don’t know
what. That part was missing from my implanted database. I evidently wasn’t
supposed to know about that.
He had a collar, but his was very thin and black. I didn’t know where that fit into
the great scheme of things, but she did not seem to be in any great fear of the man.
This man was very different to anybody else here that I had met. No, that’s not
quite true. I had seen this guy before in the White Zone. He had removed our
collars when we were putting on the space suits. He greeted the woman effusively.
‘Hi Filicia, who have you got for me today?’
She was equally warm in response. “Hi, this is a new Technician to have his
collar upgraded.”
He sort of looked in my direction and motioned for me to come to him. ‘Come
along here young man. Yes, yes, sit down.’
He seemed to potter about around some racks at the back of the room and came
back with a green collar. It was noticeably thinner than the white one I was
wearing. He slipped it around my neck and it sealed shut with a smooth click. He
then started rotating the white one that was still around my neck, stopping when he
found the feature that he was looking for. I obviously didn’t see what he did, but I
heard a high-pitched whining sound and a quiet click as the collar unlatched.
I recorded all this data very carefully for future reference. Firstly the collars
were smaller as you went up in the world. Presumably Black was higher than
Yellow because his black collar was thinner than Filicia’s yellow one. Secondly,
he put the new collar on first, meaning that I was never without a collar. This had
been done before, now that I thought about it. Yesterday, when we were getting
suited up and unsuited, they were always careful to make sure that we had a collar
type of device in place. This meant that rebellion was expected if the collars were
removed. Interesting. I indulged in some deductive reasoning. I had all the details
of the simple equipment of the City on file in my head. It was quite usual for the
bigger machines to be stronger, to do more. I couldn’t put my finger on the reason
for this; the Teachers had omitted most of the scientific stuff behind how the
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machines worked. They gave us just the barest minimum, since it would be
necessary to have some understanding in order to be able to fix certain faults. It
made sense to me that a smaller collar might have less strength than a larger one
and that therefore these collars might not hurt as much as the others.
Other ideas came until later: Perhaps the smaller ones might be more expensive
to make, but still have the same strength, or that the larger ones might just contain
more armouring because they were subjected to more wear and tear, given that
their owners had a less persistent life cycle than the higher-ups. It’s just as well
these other ideas did not come to me at the time; at least that way I managed to
retain some hope.
The old man pottered off to his shelves with the white collar, depositing it in one
of the trays. ‘Right, next step, come and sit over here. Yes, yes, hurry along.’
He had moved over to a side wall where a chair was seated just in front of a grey
board. I quickly repositioned myself in the chair and the old man went behind a
large box on a stand and started fiddling with it. Filicia moved to stand next to him,
but looking at me. She smiled at me, and as a hint of a smile appeared on my face,
there was a quiet whirring sound from the box. A white plastic card dropped out of
the side of the machine, which Filicia picked up and gave to me. “This is yours. It’s
important, so don’t lose it.”
I turned it over in my hands. It was made of a warm slippery plastic and it had
my picture all over the front. I looked pretty rough.
The old man fiddled with the box a bit more then looked up. ‘There we are, all
done, another satisfied customer. Right, well, what are you waiting for young man,
off you go, off you go. Busy, busy. Can’t afford to be loafing about all day.’
With this he was motioning for me to go. As I reached the door on my way out, I
noticed that he was waving goodbye to Filicia and she waved back. She
manoeuvred herself in front of me very adroitly and said that she would lead the
way. I followed her through more twisting corridors, but whether we went deeper
into the City was not at all clear. I speculated that the initial staging area would be
practically on the edge of hard vacuum. If there were any problems then people in
that area would be the first to get spaced. As you went in closer to the heart of the
City, the protection from space was markedly improved.
We went through corridors that were beginning to look like streets and entered a
shop from the rear. It was evidently a clothes shop and when the assistant saw
Filicia he rushed over to help. He was a Yellow as well. But I had a green collar, so
that made me higher than them according to the hierarchy of the instructors that I
had seen earlier. He seemed very deferential to me. I wasn’t sure of the relative
sizes, but I think the green collar was slightly thinner than the yellow ones. It was
hard to say because it was around my neck and therefore not too easy to compare
to anything.
The assistant prodded and poked me with his measuring tape, muttering to
himself as he did so. He shuffled off to a corner of the store and came back with a
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complete set of clothing. A uniform actually, complete with footwear. It would be
nice to have shoes again.
“If sir would like to try these on in the changing room…”
He motioned to a small alcove with a curtain across it. The garments were all
very strange to me, compared to my own original clothes. But that was a lifetime
ago and the Teachers had given me a full understanding of clothes. Just as well or I
would have felt very silly. Fancy being able to fix the lighting circuits and not
being able to put on your own shoes!
The uniform fitted very well and was remarkably comfortable. These guys
certainly knew how to dress. This material was something very special. It had an
incredibly smooth texture and was slightly stretchy. It was almost guaranteed not
to be uncomfortable. Ah, now I remembered; it was Rayolin. Normal clothing was
made of various grades of Syntholin. But Technicians got to wear Rayolin because
of its two key characteristics; stain resistance and flexibility. It was no good having
a Technician working on a door assembly, then changing clothes to get cleaned up
before going to somebody’s apartment to fix a broken sensor. He had to look clean
and presentable when going between jobs. A simple wipe of the Rayolin would
restore it to its former lustre.
Filicia looked at me in my new uniform and seemed pleased. “Ok, that is your
work uniform sorted out. Now we need to get you some off-duty clothes. I hope
you don’t mind if I pick you out something suitable.”
I half nodded, half shrugged in agreement. I had no idea what would be
considered normal or proper here. Besides she looked as if she knew what she was
doing in the clothing department. She picked out a fairly neutral coloured top and
trousers. The belt for the smock top was more cosmetic than functional and it was
remarkably wide. I tried the outfit on and it seemed comfortable enough, Syntholin
of course. Well, let’s face it, I had been wearing rough cloth fabrics during my
agricultural tour of duty. By comparison with that, this set of clothes was the
height of luxury. But those old standards were fading fast. It had been a very short
time since then, but considering the events that had occurred it seemed like a
lifetime had passed. The old ways seemed vague and unreal now.
The new uniform was consigned to a carrier bag and the assistant came back and
looked at me expectantly. Filicia looked at me and decided I was suitably attired.
Turning her attention to the assistant, she attracted his attention by her positive
tone. “Ok, that will do it. Thank you.”
She immediately looked at me. “Give him the card with your picture on it.”
I had been transferring the card to each new set of clothes. It was, after all, my
only possession to date and she had said to look after it. I handed him the small
plastic card and he scurried away with it, only to bring it and a small hand-held box
back with him. The box had a keypad and a display on it, and when he had inserted
the card and keyed in some numbers, he showed me the display. It had a list of
items and prices on it, none of which meant anything to me. I didn’t know what I
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was supposed to do and just stood there staring at the figures, trying to make sense
out of them, and trying to figure out what I was supposed to do next.
She smiled at my reaction to the display and called to the assistant. “You are
obviously new here. You need to show the receipt to me. He is obviously also new
here and hasn’t been shown what to do yet.”
The assistant looked a bit confused, looking from her back to me quickly before
taking the box over to her and showing her the display. She nodded after
inspecting its display and the assistant’s whole body visibly relaxed. He pressed
one more key on the box, then returned the card to me.
She was smiling; she smiled at everything now. She seemed to have almost
completely recovered from the earlier unpleasant incident. It was nice to be around
such a happy person; it made me feel happy to be with her. And yet I couldn’t be
happy. How could I be happy? I had lost my wife, home, friends, family. All gone.
I was kidnapped and abused. Bullied and coerced. I had no business being happy,
but when looking at her, I couldn’t focus on those other things.
She was very commanding, although I think I would have done whatever she
wanted. “Put that card away safely and I’ll tell you more about it later. Now that
you are all smartened up, I can show you down-town as we call it. Officially it’s
Zone 4, but nobody calls it that.”
Now that she mentioned it, I remembered seeing that on the bulkhead as we
came through it; the huge ‘4’. Somehow this was all so normal, so civilised. I could
no longer see myself as a native, tending crops and raising livestock. That all
seemed like a distant memory of another life-time, another person. How things had
changed! And how exciting everything was. It’s terrible to have to admit this, but it
seemed as if I had lived more in these past few days than in all the previous years
of my life put together. The fight to avoid death actually made me feel more alive.
It seems that I only really appreciated life when there was an immediate threat of it
being taken away.
I had a clean new uniform in a bag and the new set of clothes that I was wearing.
The old garment that I had been wearing had been discretely pushed down a chute
after I came out of the changing room clutching it. The attendant had tried to hold
the garment as far away from him as he could whilst he transported it to the chute.
I understood now why Filicia had brought me into the shop through the back
entrance. Now, however, I at least appeared as a fully fledged Green in suitable
attire. This changed things noticeably. Filicia somehow seemed more respectful as
we went out through the front entrance.
I slowed as we entered a large, open square. The roof was much higher than the
ceiling in the corridors had been, and there was a small ornamental structure in the
centre of the square. She started to point out the sights as we walked across the
square. “Most people live in this zone, down-town. Mostly we work up-town,
that’s Zone 3, but when we get paid we spend most of it here on food, clothes,
whatever.”
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As we walked across the fairly crowded square, I could see a variety of shops on
all sides. Everything looked fresh and bright. All the clothes were clean and tidy,
but many of the faces looked long and sad. When they saw me, or probably more
particularly the collar, they looked sheepish, put their heads down and scuttled
away rapidly. This was not my idea of status; this was fear.
As we neared the centre of the square, there was some commotion in front of us.
Somebody was running in our general direction and being pursued by black
helmeted guards, just like the guards I had seen earlier in fact. This time the guards
were being outrun. This was hardly surprising since they were wearing full body
armour and helmets, whereas the running man was dressed in light-weight
clothing. They were not going to be able to catch him. I was glad, I liked the idea
of going against the authorities.
As I watched, one of the guards stopped and pulled something out of his jacket.
People all around us were dropping to the floor in agony, including Filicia. It was a
fairly long burst, sufficient to cause severe disorientation. There were only four
people left standing in the square; the two guards, me and one other person who
was too far away to be seen clearly. I assumed he was at least a Green, since there
were people lying on the floor further out than he was. This observation meant that
it wasn’t a range issue with the collar controller.
In the time it took for the running man to get to his feet and begin to stagger
away from his pursuers, they had closed in on him. They easily and rapidly caught
up with him now that he was moving so slowly. One of the guards pulled out a
baton and smashed it into the side of the running man’s neck; he crumpled to the
floor in a heap.
I was helping Filicia get to her feet. No wonder people looked scared and sad. I
had only been here a few moments and I had a dislike of the place already. As I
helped Filicia get to her feet, the running man was being dragged out of the square
by the guards. She was still a bit groggy, but I wanted some answers and she was a
Yellow whereas I was Green. I thought it should be safe to quiz her. ‘What was all
that about, Filicia.’
She frowned. “We aren’t supposed to talk about it.”
I still had a hold on her shoulders and I tightened my grip to emphasise the
point. ‘Look, something just happened here and all I want to know is what it was.’
She didn’t seem in any great hurry to answer. I looked at her more closely and
pushed the point. I was already using my new authority to push someone around.
‘Well?’
She looked around, as if to make certain that there was nobody near enough to
hear her. “Ok. The guards wanted to catch him, but he was too far away from them.
They obviously didn’t have his collar ID, so they just hit all Yellows in the area.
They don’t do it often. He must have been a dissident.”
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She had been on her feet for some time now, but she was still a bit unsteady.
‘Thank you for telling me. Now I think we had better cut short the tour and let you
have a lie-down somewhere.’
She looked as though she was going to protest, but then she changed her mind.
“Ok. Your new quarters are close by. We can go there.”
We changed from our former direction and headed back the way we had come.
As we got out of the square, we turned down some side alleys and back into
narrow corridors. These corridors actually had markings in them that were easily
discernible and I realised that the previous corridors in other parts of the City also
had similar markings. The thing is that these corridors had been cleaned and
therefore the markings were more apparent.
This place made no sense, both in terms of the physical layout and the way of
life. The corridors had alpha-numeric codings, but the pattern of this coding was
not clear and the corridors were all different shapes and veered off at odd angles. If
these codings were interpreted then one might be able to know where one was, if
the overall shape was given on a map. I had not yet figured out the coding scheme,
although it was probably very logical and easy to learn. There would no doubt be
maps or overviews and I could find my own way around.
Filicia was still leaning on me a bit for support, making me feel useful, and a bit
more in control. We turned down one last corridor and she stopped me by a door.
She told me to insert the card with my picture on it into the slot. A smart key,
electronically coded for the door, but not necessarily unique. A power-source in
the lock energised the chip in the card and electronically interrogated it. Not a
simple question and not a simple answer. Cryptographic sub-processors generated
random messages that needed to be decoded in real time. Difficult to forge.
All this data came to me as I touched the wall-mounted card reader. The
Teacher’s learning was not complete all at once. It seemed to get installed and
animated when the subject was required. This brought the implanted knowledge to
hand. I needed to know this because as a Technician, part of my task was to fix
broken locks. I was a bit surprised now that I had been so quickly elevated in rank.
Of course I did know that if I stepped out of line, the guards were available to
cart me off. I certainly had enough incentive to stay on the straight and narrow.
There was both the down-side of punishment for transgressors and the up-side of
rewards for performance. My new quarters were apparently all for me, a
considerable reward.
The entrance was only slightly partitioned off from an eating and cooking area
on the right and a social area on the left; the Vid room. If you kept going straight,
there was a door opened by a plate recessed slightly into the wall. Through this
door there was a sleeping area with a double bed. This was the start of a pretty
good job by the looks of things. It was easy to forget the negative aspects of this
place and get drawn into the material possessions that one could obtain. I went
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around touching all the appliances and fittings around the place and instantly knew
what they were all for.
I had completely neglected Filicia, who was just standing in the doorway. When
I looked back at her, she was not looking too good and was propping herself up on
the door frame. I helped her in past the door sensor, allowing the door to slide
silently shut. I guided her into the sleeping area. ‘Look Filicia, you have had a
rough day today. Just have a lie down for a few moments and rest.’
She mumbled some sort of weak protest, but lay on the bed anyway. I pulled off
her shoes and left the room, turning down the dimmer switch on the way out. Did I
mention that the lights came on automatically? There were lots of electronic
gadgets in the place and therefore something was always going wrong somewhere.
This meant that I was going to get to know the place well, very well. That was
good, because although I had been feeling good about the place, my pleasure had
been turned to outrage at the events in the square. Where could a dissident flee to
in a City surrounded by space? Surely there was no reason to act the way they had,
harming the innocent. My elation at the new toys in the apartment had worn off as
rapidly as my enthusiasm had been generated in the first place. Material
possessions could change a person’s comfort in the short term, but in the longer
term one had to feel good about oneself.
Moving into the social area, I selected channels at random on the Vid to see
what was on it. There was a news channel telling how victorious we had been
against our enemies in the last battle. It said that production was up again this
season and basically that everything was wonderful. It was really up-beat and I
wasn’t sure whether or not to believe it.
There were numerous entertainment channels and I had ample opportunity to
explore them, as Filicia only emerged from the bedroom after a rest of several
hours. She looked a lot better; rested after her ordeal. She came over and sat on a
sofa opposite to me. “Thank you. I needed a rest. That’s the second time I have
been penalised in the last two days. I guess I was just unlucky, being in the wrong
place at the wrong time.”
She looked a bit withdrawn, but continued anyway. “There was the other thing I
had to discuss with you, the matter of a companion. We can go over to Zone 5 and
you can pick out a companion.”
She seemed weak and vulnerable and I did not feel in any danger from her, so
now was a good time to get some answers. ‘What exactly do you mean by a
companion?’
She seemed a bit irritated by the question, as if I was deliberately being stupid or
something. “I mean a woman. You can pick out any woman you want from the
White sector. Of course, …. you could pick out a man if that is your preference”
I still wasn’t satisfied with this answer. ‘My preference for what? Come on
Filicia, spit it out. Just exactly what are you talking about. You mean I should pick
out a wife?’
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She laughed, but not a very convincing laugh. “No. No. Not a wife. A
companion. She’d be yours for as long as you wanted her. If she didn’t please you
then you could just send her back.” She continued in a more sheepish manner. “
…or if your preference is for men, then you could pick out a man to give you
pleasure.”
Somehow this didn’t seem right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I knew that I
had recently lost a wife. What was her name now? Well that wasn’t important. I
had had one recently and I wasn’t sure about having another so soon; actually it
did seem to be a bit of a distant memory, now that I thought about it. I stalled for
time. ‘Look, my preference is certainly not for men, but I don’t think that I would
want a woman, a companion, who was forced to be with me.’
She smiled; a warmer smile this time. “You don’t have to worry about that,
Technician. Most women there would be glad to get out of Zone 5, especially with
a handsome fellow like yourself. It’s not very nice there for women, or for men for
that matter. The thing is, if you pick soon then you can get one from your
Homeworld. And the longer you leave it, the less choice you’ll have. All the pretty
ones will have been snapped up and you’ll be left with the less pretty ones or the
ones who others have rejected as companions. Think it over and let me know in the
next few days.”
I had thought it over as she spoke. ‘It’s ok. I don’t need to think it over. I lost a
wife recently and the way things are here, I wouldn’t want to get too attached to
anybody.’
She looked a bit introverted now. “You haven’t been here long, but when you
have you’ll realise that you have to seize every opportunity for happiness the
moment that it’s available. If you wait or hesitate, the chance could be gone
forever. Anything can happen here and there’s just no way to predict it or to
control it.”
Surprisingly enough I could fully understand what she was saying and it made
sense. I had lost so much recently, I just wanted to reach out and grab onto
something, to someone. There had been no-one to talk to about it, no-one to share
the pain, the loss, the change. Any attempt at communication was a risk of death or
yet more pain. But here was somebody who understood. I mumbled quietly to the
floor. ‘In that case I choose you.’
She looked up at me. “What?”
I said it again, slightly more boldly, but still not quite looking at her face. ‘I said,
in that case I choose you.’
She was visibly taken aback and a bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry, you
misunderstood me. You can have your pick of the women in Zone 5, wearing the
white collars. I’m not on offer.”
The blood rushed to my face and I felt so embarrassed and humiliated. How
could I have said such a thing to a complete stranger? My life had been turned on
its head and I had lost all sense of what was proper. I slipped out of the chair and
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took a cup from the storage rack. It was a better cup than in the White sector. I
examined every detail of the cup, as if to take my mind off of what had just
happened. The cup slid smoothly under the water outlet and I filled it to the brim
with water. Well slightly over the brim actually. It’s one thing to know how
something works and it’s another to operate it smoothly the first time.
The water was cool and clear, and was not tainted with anything either. I had
my suspicions about the water in Zone 5. In this hi-tech society, it seemed unlikely
that the water in Zone 5 needed to be so poor. Could it be that it was deliberately
bad, making it a relief to escape from that zone? Was it all a big con-job, making
people realise how well off they were when they left Zone 5? I resolved to find out.
No words had passed between us for several minutes now. Who was going to
start the conversation again? The more I thought about how to do it, the greater the
elapsed time and therefore the harder it was. I felt clumsy and awkward, just as I
had when I had first met the woman who would later be my wife, back on my
Homeworld. I searched for the memory of my wife’s name and it wasn’t there. It
was as if I had misplaced it somewhere. I knew it was there somewhere, but I just
couldn’t reach it.
Filicia stood up. This caused a change and broke the introspection. I looked at
her. ‘Filicia, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that you are the
first person I have been able to talk to since… , you know. I would like us to be
friends, that’s all.’
She came over towards me. I was close to the exit, so if she was leaving, this
would be the way she would have to go. I moved aside to let her pass, but she
stopped by me. “You don’t have to be sorry, Joran, I understand.”
As she was saying this she touched the back of her hand against my cheek. Her
touch was electric; my whole body tingled. Our eyes met, and held each other
transfixed. She slipped her arm around me and I lowered the cup from my lips and
settled it on the nearby shelf. As if by some unspoken agreement, our lips moved
inexorably closer until we kissed.
When our lips eventually parted, her voice had dropped to almost a whisper.
“It’s just that I haven’t been able to practise what I have been preaching to you. I
think I should take some of my own advice.”
She guided me into the sleeping area, where the light was still set on dim. No
words passed between us. It just seemed so right. I had known her for only a few
hours and yet I could share my innermost feelings with her. My hands explored her
body and hers explored mine. Our hands found comfort on each others body; it felt
good to be touched, to be needed, to be wanted.
Our clothes somehow managed to remove themselves; I didn’t really notice that
part. I was lost, engulfed in the passion. The caressing and kissing seemed so
natural; it seemed as if we had known each other for a lifetime. We were just made
for each other. The only other woman I had been with sexually had been my wife
and yet I couldn’t remember sharing passion like this. This was a wild thing. It was
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as if this would be our last night; as if we would never see each other again. A
desperate longing for love. With each push of my body into hers we grew closer,
our hearts racing, our bodies perfectly synchronised. We came in a glorious
explosion of emotion.
Even after the first climax, we continued to explore each others body. To kiss
and to stroke and to hold on, lest we lose what we had. Soon I was able to mount
her again and ride her for all I was worth. Neither of us came quietly. This time we
had no energy to continue; this time our passion was sated and we lay there spent.
There was no past and there was no present, there was only the now. I could not
tell what lay around the next corner and neither could she. Somehow our union had
made us both stronger; we could face the coming events with more fortitude.
I must have fallen asleep after the exertion and when I awoke the bed was
empty. I felt a loss and the need to see her again. I slipped out of the bed and
rushed around the other rooms in the apartment. She had gone. I stood there in the
middle of the Vid room, wondering what I had done wrong that had caused her to
leave like this. Was it that, no not that; well how about that, well maybe, or that?
After the waves of self-recrimination subsided, I realised that I was standing in the
middle of the room naked. I went back to the bedroom and turned the light up,
allowing me to find the various bits of clothing that had been discarded in our
headlong pursuit of passion. I spotted an additional undergarment near the bed.
That was not mine!
Having dressed, I returned to the kitchen area. I was hungry and not just because
of having had sex. It was nearly time for the evening meal and I had managed to
not get a midday meal yet again. I searched the cupboards looking for something to
eat. The only things I could find were a packet containing some hard dry biscuits
and some sort of foil-wrapped mushy stuff. It did not take me long to polish these
off and I washed them down with some more water. At least I wouldn’t die of
thirst.
Now I was able to look around the apartment carefully. I sat in a chair in the Vid
room and surveyed my domain. Not bad. I had done well. Just think what it would
have been like to spend another day, a week, a year in Zone 5. I couldn’t imagine
surviving it for longer than that.
I noticed a clock on the wall. It was very simple. A single pointer moving
around a dial. The upper half was labelled ‘REST’, the lower half was labelled
‘WORK’. The pointer had just moved into the ‘REST’ part of the dial. Well I had
just been resting, thank you.
And now I was alone. For he first time in my life I was truly alone. This was a
strange situation. I had been brought up with two brothers and we had been
together almost constantly. When I got married and left home I then had a wife to
contend with. There was no point in time when I had ever had a living space that
was all mine with nobody around to see or talk to.
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I had been left alone for only a very short period of time and already I felt
strange. Perhaps it was just the strange new environment. Perhaps I was just tired. I
needed to keep focused and to not go wandering off into self-pity. That would get
me nowhere.
I was safe here in my apartment and could not be seen. Now was an ideal time to
prepare my body for the future. If I ever needed my Martial skills, now was the
time. And without practise they were not going to be very effective. It’s hard to say
what proportion of the Old Knowledge was physical and what proportion was
spiritual. Certainly all that would be observed to an outsider would be the physical
part. In any case, to practice the physical, the spiritual had also to be practised.
It had been many years since I had done any training. I was much older now and
I doubted that I would be as able. Enough! Too much self-doubt. I needed positive
action. I made an effort to stand from the seated position with grace and style. Not
bad; a reasonable effort. Next I split my legs to each side, stretching out the leg
muscles. Hmm. Too stiff. Using the chair to steady myself, I worked my legs
further and further apart. This took some effort.
Releasing my grip on the chair, I just stood there, legs apart. It was clear my
suppleness needed more work. A whole foot could be placed between my groin
and the floor. I remembered when I could ‘stand’ like this with my legs flat against
the floor. I would regain that ability.
I released myself from this uncomfortable stance and swung my legs and arms
about in warming up exercises. My feet swung easily above my head. This was
fine, but I had insufficient control of my legs at this height. I had no weapons to
use apart from those attached to my body; they had to work correctly first time
when called upon.
I imagined a target in front of me and rained a series of kicks and punches on the
enemy. First around their midsection and then around their head. It felt good to
move the body in this way. The lungs breathed deeply, the heart pumped smoothly,
the weapons attacked deftly. I became the weapon. No other thoughts intruded.
There was no time for thinking, no time for mercy. There was only attack,
counter-attack, parry, defend. Kick, punch, strike, thrust.
The sweat began to accumulate around my forehead and I had done enough. I
decided to cool off whilst watching the Vid. It was a simple matter to watch the
Vid and return to my stretching. This was a good way to cool down. I explored the
Vid channels for a while without staying too long on anything in particular.
The pointer on the clock had moved only a quarter of the way through the rest
period when the Vid announced that day workers should now go to bed. The Vid
then shut itself down. I hadn’t eaten well and I could use the rest, so I took the hint
and went to bed.
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5 Work
It was the morning of the next day and I awoke naturally. I started dragging myself
out of bed a few minutes before an alarm went off. It was something of a struggle
to prepare myself for the discoveries, both good and bad, that I would make that
day.
Boy was I stiff from the workout I had done the night before! My legs were
protesting and this slowed me down. It took several moments to track down the
source of the irritating alarm sound and shut it off. An alarm clock built into the
wall; they thought of everything!
The way things had gone yesterday, Filicia never did get around to explaining
about the card with my photo on it. It seemed to be money, and a key, and perhaps
other things too. Whatever else it was, it was important and I needed to have it on
me at all times.
Today was a new day and I had work to go to. The Vid had powered itself up
and was now displaying a map of how to get to the maintenance shop. It wasn’t a
map of the City; it was only a partial map of the route to the maintenance shop.
Fortunately the map was displayed continuously and I studied it carefully. I was
actually very close to the shop, so I only had to make three turns, not including
turning left out of the apartment, in order to get there. When I felt I had it, I went
back into the kitchen area to consume some more of the hard biscuits. The foil
wrapped mush was all gone. I needed a source of food, or things could start
looking a bit grim. At least the water was ok here. I had more water to compensate
for the lack of food. At least my stomach felt full for now.
The pointer on the clock was getting closer to the work period and I realised that
I was wearing the wrong clothes. I spotted the bag with my uniform in it and
rapidly divested myself of the non-work clothes. The uniform went on even easier
than it had in the shop and I was ready to head out on my solo trip into the City. I
took one last gaze at the map on the Vid screen before using the manual shutdown
facility to turn it off.
It was an uneventful trip to the maintenance shop and there I met three other
green collared technicians. One greeted me effusively. “Hi new guy, I’m Lorek and
these miserable gits are your colleagues: J’an and something so unpronounceable
that we just call him Gron.”
I was not expecting such a warm greeting, given previous encounters here. ‘Hi,
I’m Joran.’
Gron and J’an hardly acknowledged my presence. I noticed that there were
slight facial and bodily differences between us, all of us. This should have been
expected, because evidently we were all from different planets; hell we were all
from different star systems. Lorek continued. “It’s nice to see a new face; there is
always more work to do than we have time for. An extra pair of hands always
comes in handy.”
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Just then the Master Technician appeared from an inner office, wearing his blue
collar. He was not at all happy either. He had some electronic note pads, epads, in
his hands and gave them out to the others. He looked at me. “You tag along with
Lorek today and learn the routine. Tomorrow you go out on your own.”
With this we were dismissed, not so much by his actions, but by his inaction.
Gron fiddled with his epad, grumbled under his breath and retrieved his toolkit
from an alcove in the wall. Evidently one didn’t get to take the tools home at the
end of the day.
The epad was placed around the neck on a long strap, causing it to hang down
across the front of your chest. It looked very light, so this wouldn’t be particularly
inconvenient. The toolkit was another matter though. It was large, and by the way
Gron picked his up, it seemed heavy. The toolkit was attached to a shoulder strap
and had a hand carrying strap as well. Both were necessary to get and keep the
toolkit in position. Obviously the shoulder strap was adjusted until it was the
correct length to do so.
J’an was next up and he took up his toolkit with less overt hostility than Gron,
although he shuffled his feet in a remarkably unenthusiastic way. Lorek, on the
other hand, picked up his toolkit with a flourish and told me to follow along. We
had only taken a few steps down the corridor when I spoke; Lorek seemed a safe
person to speak to. ‘Lorek, since I’m with you today to learn, perhaps you could
answer a personal question. How come those other two are so grumpy and you are
so happy?’
He flashed a smile across at me as we walked side by side down the corridors.
Well, I got myself a new woman recently and she is so grateful that everything
seems nice to me at the moment.”
I smiled back. I could certainly understand that viewpoint! We had followed the
corridors around for a short distance and had now reached a small square. Again
the roof was considerably higher than the ceiling in the corridors; around twice as
high in fact. This gave a much enhanced feeling of space, and the lighting was
somehow better too. Lorek was being a good guide. “That café over there is a good
place to eat. We usually all meet up there at lunch time and exchange stories. Now
our first job is to fix a broken lamp at L:23-17, not too demanding.”
We followed directions given by the epad. It was only necessary to activate the
job entry and the epad would automatically give directions to the job. “Here, watch
this. We are supposed to go down this corridor to the job. Let’s try turning down
here instead.”
He gestured for me to stay where I was and he started walking off down an
intersecting corridor on his own. The epad started beeping and he reversed his
course. “I don’t know what would happen if we were to ignore the epad’s
directions and I don’t think I want to find out.”
The noise from the epad stopped as soon as Lorek started walking in the correct
direction. Clearly the epad knew exactly where it was at all times. I was impressed
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and said so. Lorek stopped when the epad began to whine. “Although I may never
have been to this section before, the epad has brought me to this storage closet.
Since I know I need to change a bulb, I can get a new one here and a step ladder to
get me up to the fitting.”
Sure enough the closet opened on a command from the epad. Well, epad, key,
guardian and boss by the looks of things. I took the short step ladder and Lorek
picked up the bulb, continuing with his explanations. “There are lots of these
closets scattered around. I don’t know who stocks them up, but there is always
everything you need in the one you are directed too. I guess they want to keep us in
the dark as much as possible, so we don’t know where the stuff comes from. And
of course the guys who fill up the closets probably don’t know what this stuff is, or
what to do with it. I’ve been doing this job for 5 years and I have never seen
anybody filling up one of these closets. You would think we would bump into
somebody by accident and the fact that we haven’t must mean that the computers
make sure we don’t go to the same place at the same time, or even down the same
corridors.”
By now we had arrived at the faulty bulb. “Ok Joran, let’s see what you can do.”
I was about to protest that I didn’t know what to do, when he pressed the new
bulb into my hand. Ah yes, plasma discharge bulb, high efficiency illumination.
Runs cold to the touch, but produces a pleasant, even illumination. I positioned the
step ladder under the grating and mounted the steps with a bit of hesitation. As
soon as I touched the grating, I knew how it came off and with a slightly uncertain
click, it came away in my hands. The same happened with the bulb and it was no
surprise when the new bulb lit brightly in its holder. I replaced the grating and
dismounted from the step ladder in one continuous motion.
Lorek smiled. “Another successful mission.”
I was not so convinced. ‘Ok, so I changed a light bulb, but what if the holder
was damaged and needed replacing.’
Lorek frowned. “You are a worrier Joran; yep, definitely a worrier. I didn’t think
about that at all on my first day. It was only at the end of the shift when Gron told
me how to handle it. What you do is type into the epad what is wrong and what you
need, and it tells you where to go to get what you need. It’s all very clever. You
see, now we tell it that we are finished and it takes us to the nearest bin to recycle
the old bulb, it instructs us to take the ladder back to the closet and to wash our
hands. You may not have noticed the little sink in there.”
“Boy these guys are keen on hygiene. After every job there is this hygiene step,
ensuring that we don’t carry any dirt around with us from place to place. After all,
some of this equipment has been untouched for tens of years; that’s a long time to
accumulate muck.”
He had dumped the bulb into a recycling chute whilst he had been talking.
Having completed the light-bulb duty, we visited an apartment. The occupant was
a tall red-head of somewhat stunning proportions, wearing a flimsy night garment
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that was all but transparent, and a thin blue collar. Her only jewellery was a thin
black ring. Even though we were both happily involved and fulfilled sexually, it
took considerable strength of mind to not stare at her sinuous form through the thin
film of material. She seemed to be moving in a way that was deliberately sexually
evocative; she was succeeding! She was not particularly young, but she seemed
experienced sexually and had no problem about expressing that confidence.
We had come to fix her bedroom light switch; it would no longer obey voice
commands. Again this was just a question of swapping out the faulty module and
replacing it with one we had picked up on the way. We escaped from the apartment
as soon as the job was done, perhaps just slightly sooner actually! Lorek was dying
to say something, but waited until the door was shut and we were a respectable
distance from the apartment.
“Joran, I’m glad you were with me on that job. She looked as if she was going to
take both of us on if we had stayed another few minutes.”
He was genuinely relieved and so was I. ‘You and me, both.’ We both burst out
laughing as we carried on walking down the corridor. Life was returning to some
semblance of normality. We had a few more of the same sort of routine jobs, but
then there was a more interesting one. We went along to a closet and picked up a
hydraulic jack. This was to help fix a jammed door. We walked along silently now,
there was not much left to say and it had been a long morning; mostly because of
all the walking down strange corridors. If you liked corridors, then this was your
kind of place. Endless rows of corridors, all pretty similar in coloration if not in
shape. An ideal place to get lost. But just look at how many people there could be
in this place, hundreds and hundreds!
We arrived at the apartment and activated the attention bell. We heard a voice
from behind the door. He shouted out to us. “I would let you in, but the door is
jammed.”
Since Lorek was in charge, he answered the muffled shout with an un-muffled
shout of his own. “We’re here to fix that Sir. Have you out in no time at all.”
This was perhaps a bit optimistic. The problem was opening the door enough to
get the jack in place. The jaws could get into a gap the size of a large finger, but
the doors would not even open this amount. The lock had disengaged, that was
clear. A thin plastic film slipped easily through the gap where the central latch
would be if it were actually locked.
“Ok, watch this one Joran; it’s not actually in the manual. I just happened to
work this out when I was doing a job on another system some time ago. These wall
panels come off if you bend them in the middle, like this, and give them a hard
push to the left like -ugh- this.”
Sure enough the panel clattered noisily to the floor, exposing the door
mechanism. “Strictly speaking the heavy mechanical stuff is done by another team,
but we are here, so we might as well do it. It beats changing light bulbs at least!”
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The normal operating basis was that the runners for the doors were Sintium
complex. This stuff is so hard that it would allow a door to open and close every
second for a thousand years. Hence maintenance should not be necessary.
However, sometimes the track got gummed up by accumulated dust and dirt from
the atmosphere and the action of jacking the door open would clean up the track. In
this particular case, however, a rodent had managed to get into the track and jam it
right at the closed position. The trouble was that it was still alive and none too
pleased to see us.
Lorek was unfazed by the sight of it and selected a soft-faced mallet for the job.
One swift blow dispatched it. The creature had a front claw jammed in the track
and this was freed by the less than subtle application of a screwdriver. Lorek
dispassionately picked up the remains by the tail and dumped them down a nearby
garbage chute. “We call them space-rats, but nobody is really sure what they are or
where they come from. If you see one, kill it. They play havoc with the wiring and
give us a lot of unnecessary work.”
He got a brush out of his toolkit and just cleaned out the runners, allowing the
door to slide freely. While he was down there he pointed to a lever by the side of
the door driver. He motioned for me to squat down beside him and spoke at a
markedly reduced volume. “Now we almost certainly aren’t supposed to know this,
but if you press this lever, the door will open even if it’s locked. Don’t tell
anybody about it, but you may find a use for it in the future, you never know.”
We both stood and ceased our conspiratorial conversation. He showed me how
the panel was refitted to the wall, then reset the cut-outs on the door using a simple
key-press on the epad. The door opened to reveal a happy customer, free to go
about his business. He streaked out through the open door and it closed it behind
him. “Thank you citizen technicians.”
We were a bit surprised by the brevity of the meeting, but it was close to our
lunch time, so we packed up the kit and followed the epad’s directions to return the
jack and get cleaned up.
Lorek punched a key on the epad and it beeped an acknowledgement. He
commented on this to me. “The computer allows us time for lunch. That’s very
generous of it. They probably found out that we don’t work efficiently when
hungry and therefore permit us to take a break. You just key it in here.”
He pointed to a key on the epad. “It allows you to break your work cycle. I have
no doubt that it also monitors where you are going though. Hell, it might even have
a microphone built into it, so that it can monitor what you say. If so, then there
would have to be a number of people listening-in to hours and hours of
conversations.”
He led me down corridor after corridor, until we came out into a square.
Actually it was the same square I was in yesterday and now that I saw it again, I
could see that it was also the same one I had seen this morning. It had just looked
different because I was coming at it from a different direction. Yes, I was
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beginning to recognise the place. He led me over to the café that he had pointed
out when we started the shift. He hadn’t said much since he mentioned the
possibility of the epad having a microphone in it. Now he started up again, back to
his previous self.
“If you want to program a location into the computer then when you get there,
just push the ‘save location’ key and enter a name for it. Any time in the future you
want to go back there, just select it from the list and the epad will take you back by
the most direct route. Well, provided you are not on duty anyway.”
I didn’t get how it knew which technician was which, because the Master
Technician seemed to give them out at random. ‘How does it know who you are, so
it can remember your personal settings.’
He hesitated in his walking and I hesitated with him. He looked at me intently
then he started walking again and so did I. He responded in a more subdued tone.
“I didn’t ask that question for weeks after I had this thing. You must be really
smart Joran. It knows who you are from the Balance card in the side obviously.”
He pointed to the Balance card slot, which I had not seen before. “It wasn’t clear
to us if the stuff was stored on the card or not. We talked about it and it seemed to
make sense that these epads are just links to a central computer somewhere. We
haven’t seen it, and it wasn’t in our Teacher briefings, but it just makes sense that
there must be a central computer.”
“We had a chance to test this theory out when a customer got his card chewed up
by a reader. Gron fixed the reader, but the customer was really worried that he
might have lost all of his Balance. He didn’t; when the fact was keyed in to the
epad, the customer was directed to get a new Balance card from central services.
Gron took him there and back, and the new card did everything the old one did and
even had the same picture on it!”
They must have slipped the Balance cards in the slot in the side of the epad so
smoothly that I had not noticed it. That was an important piece of information
which I had missed due to my inattention. I was really annoyed with myself for
being so lax.
We entered the café through a plain door and I saw that the place was virtually
empty. There were a couple of Greens over in the corner and J’an sat with Gron at
a central table. We went over to sit with them at their table; a round, sturdy little
thing, with a single central leg. There were only chairs for three, but Lorek grabbed
an extra chair as we approached. Lorek started the ball rolling. “There haven’t been
four of us here for ages. Not since…”
Gron butted in. “You know our rule. We don’t discuss those no longer with us.”
Lorek was suitably chastised by this and fell into a glum silence. I felt able to
bring some life to the table. ‘Lorek and I were practically seduced by the woman
whose light we were fixing. I hope that sort of thing doesn’t happen too often.’
This kind of broke the ice a bit and J’an laughed. “It’s always Lorek who gets
into that sort of trouble. It never happens to us!” Then we all laughed and the
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waiter came over to take our order. Lorek saw me looking hesitant and helped out,
with a nod of approval from me. “We’ll have the Jarlang Stew. A cup of stim for
me and a mug of water for my friend.”
The waiter nodded. “Right away sir.” He moved off inoffensively to the rear of
the café and returned quite quickly with two plates of food; well, strictly speaking,
one plate and one bowl, and two cups of steaming brown liquid. These were for
Gron and J’an, who had arrived before us and had already ordered when we
arrived. The waiter pulled out an epad, which must have been clipped to his belt
out of sight, and looked at Gron. Gron was about to dive into his bowl of foul
smelling steaming yuk and seemed less than pleased at the implied interruption.
Nevertheless he pulled his Balance card out of his epad and offered it to the waiter.
The waiter inserted the card into his noticeably smaller epad and keyed in some
numbers, but before he could complete the transaction Gron had grabbed his wrist.
“Now you know you are supposed to show me the display before you complete the
transaction, so don’t try to be funny. Ok?”
The waiter did not resist at all as the epad was pulled into Gron’s eye line. Gron
grunted agreement and the transaction key was pressed. The card was returned to
Gron and then J’an’s was inserted. Same procedure, but without the handholding.
Lorek assumed a teacher’s tone again. He pointed to Gron’s plate. “This stuff is
called swamp stew. Nobody can stand the stuff apart from Gron. We even hate the
smell. In fact, it may even be poisonous to us; we are just not sure and nobody is
about to volunteer to test it. Just remember not to have it!”
As he spoke, the action of Gron spooning the stuff up allowed air to circulate
around it and the smell was bad; not awful bad, but bad enough that you wouldn’t
want to eat it. It smelled of black swamp water and decay. I didn’t feel that
experimentation would be beneficial in this particular case.
J’an’s food, on the other hand, looked quite reasonable. There seemed to be
various root vegetables and leafy plant tops, none of which I could identify
exactly, but which all seemed similar to things I had eaten in my own home; my
real home that is.
Lorek pointed at J’an’s plate. “That is Rygan Salad. Not bad if you like that sort
of thing.”
I was getting interested now. ‘And what is the drink?’
Lorek hummed a bit and looked a bit embarrassed. “Well, we call it stim. It
tastes pretty horrible and it’s expensive; I would avoid it if I were you.”
I didn’t get the point. ‘Well if it’s horrible, how come you are all drinking it.’
Lorek was not quick to answer this one. He looked around the table, but got no
help from the others. “Well stim is a cross between a drink and a drug. It’s really a
stimulant to keep you going when you are tired. Trouble is that once you start
drinking it regularly, you tend to need more to produce the same effect. It’s best to
just stay away from it.”
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The waiter soon returned with another two bowls of steaming food. We went
through the same ritual with the Balance cards, but when the waiter came to my
card he frowned. “Sir, I should warn you that your Balance is getting dangerously
low.”
I didn’t know what to make of this and Lorek dived in. “That’s alright, he’s new.
Don’t worry about it.”
The waiter nodded understanding and considering himself dismissed, he hurried
away. Lorek tucked in to his stew and I just poked at mine with a spoon. I couldn’t
identify any of the constituents, but it did smell reasonable. I was starving hungry.
I had not eaten properly for some time and here was some sort of food waiting to
be consumed. Patience. ‘There’s just one question here, Lorek. How do I know if
this stuff is ok for me to eat?’
Lorek paused in his headlong pursuit of sustenance and looked up. “Well, this is
an experimental subject, not an exact science. If you eat it and you are ill, don’t eat
it again. If you die then we’ll have to get another replacement. Apparently fatality
is not common. If it isn’t compatible with your system, then it will probably smell
or taste bad to you. You have to eat something, so you might just as well try this.”
This dissertation on the difficulties of life here did nothing to enhance my well
being, but then I was hungry and it did smell good, so I tentatively sampled a small
piece. It tasted good too. The texture was strange, alien, and interesting. It was
certainly better than the slop they served up in the White sector. Apparently the
generic food in the White sector was not poisonous to anyone, but as a result it was
tasteless to everyone as well. I didn’t feel so bad about the danger now that it was
less real. I started eating and as it tasted fine; the speed of eating increased with
every mouthful.
There was not a lot of talking going on; well, none in fact. Everyone was silently
shovelling food into their respective mouths at a moderate and even pace; everyone
apart from me that is. Probably I was hungrier than the rest and perhaps my idea of
moderate was somewhat faster than theirs. In any case, I finished mine before the
others. I might as well ask a question. This was just amongst us. ‘What did the
waiter mean when he said that my Balance was dangerously low?’
I drank some water whilst waiting for an answer. Lorek looked up. He was
nearly finished anyway and this remark of mine prompted him to call it a day on
this particular meal. He placed the utensils on the plate in an orderly fashion.
Seeing this I arranged mine likewise. He nodded an acknowledgement of my
action. “Didn’t anybody explain the Balance card system to you?”
I apparently looked blank, a state which seemed to be quite common for me in
this environment. I had had a lot of practice recently and I was getting good at it.
Lorek took the opportunity to down his stim in one uninterrupted swig. “The
hostess who brought you into the sector and set you up with your uniform and
clothes was supposed to explain that to you. She obviously didn’t spend enough
time with you.”
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We did spend a lot of time together, but ‘Balance cards’ wasn’t a subject that
came up. I was a bit embarrassed; ok, a lot embarrassed. I felt my face flush a bit,
but only a bit, and I hoped they hadn’t noticed. Unfortunately I had been drinking
the water at the time and I also spluttered a bit in the water. I coughed a bit to
disguise the fact and hoped the redness would be attributed to the coughing. ‘Ah,
well, she got stunned when a dissident was escaping through the square yesterday,
so it probably slipped her mind.’
Lorek continued with his teaching role. He looked at me strangely, as if there
was something I had said he didn’t quite believe. “Well perhaps I had better
explain.”
J’an butted in. “Lorek, you must be fond of your own voice or something. If it’s
the only way to shut you up, I’ll explain.”
Lorek smiled and used a hand motion to signify that this was acceptable to him.
He wasn’t at all upset; this was just playful banter amongst colleagues. J’an
continued. “When you start off, you are given a Balance advance. This is taken out
of your pay over the first twenty days. You get paid daily; and food, clothing,
accommodation and so forth is deducted from your Balance as it’s used. You need
to run up a healthy positive Balance in case you get ill and can’t work. The reason
the waiter was concerned is that if your Balance becomes negative, you are
considered to be a liability and depending on how many others there are around,
you may or may not get your attitude adjusted. Now that is something you want to
avoid.”
Great, another way of failing. This place had enough traps to catch out everyone.
Now I had another question though. ‘Just what is this attitude adjustment?’
Gron had just finished his cup of stim and placed it back on the table. He stood
up slowly and then replaced the chair. “You’ve learned enough for today. Leave it
at that.”
J’an also got up to leave and picked up his epad from the table. Lorek had been
uncharacteristically silent for some time. “Gron, do the epads contain
microphones?”
Gron didn’t answer, but his body language spoke volumes, albeit in subtle
whispers. He thought they did. We left a short while later and Lorek stayed in a
quiet mood, almost sulky. We continued on our chores, but he was not as
forthcoming as he had been during the morning. I tried to break through this
invisible barrier several times, but failed each time. I just gave up on it and
concentrated on learning as much as I could about the surroundings.
It was an uneventful afternoon so I was glad when the shift was over and we
returned to the maintenance shop. I noted that the list of jobs was not completed. It
was just as Lorek had said, there was always more work to do than we had time
for. There would always be jobs over at the end of the shift and it was up to the
Master Technician to prioritise the jobs.
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We did not arrive back at the shop at the same time as the others. It was however
evident that they had already returned, their toolkits having been replaced in the
racks. The Master Technician accepted the epad from Lorek without comment and
we left to go our separate ways. Lorek tried a cheery ‘good night’, but his heart
wasn’t really in it.
I found my way back to my apartment without much trouble and I took a quick
tour around it before settling into a chair. It was just as I had left it. I turned on the
Vid and saw some shots of an up-town garden facility. It looked wondrous. Green
trees and lots of living things that I could not specifically identify. This was one of
the food production areas and the presenter was saying how the amount of food
produced was increasing and how everybody would be prosperous.
There was a chiming of the door bell and I let Filicia in. She had a bag of food
with her, which she put down on the table just before she wrapped herself around
me. It felt good to hold her again. We kissed very gently and as my left hand
moved up over her breast she pulled away. “Not so soon Joran. I’m still a bit
delicate after yesterday. It’s been a while and I am still a bit, well, delicate.”
I nodded understanding. Frankly I was glad that I didn’t have to perform again
so soon. I had given it all I had yesterday and I hadn’t recovered fully myself. I
wasn’t going to let on of course, but it was a bit of a relief.
She motioned for me to sit down at the small table in the kitchen area as she
unpacked the bags. “Things didn’t go to plan yesterday and there are lots of things
I didn’t tell you. You are required to work six out of every seven days, but not
everybody works on the same starting day for their seven day cycle. This means
that there is always somebody at work and that all facilities are available every day.
It’s actually a very sensible arrangement. This way the shops and leisure facilities
don’t get overloaded.”
I had been grinning at her like a love-struck kid all this time, but this statement
somehow cut through the female induced fog surrounding me. ‘Leisure facilities?’
She smiled one of her room-illuminating smiles. “Oh yes, we can go swimming,
walking in the woods, even ride the Trancors - although that is terribly expensive.
We have to have some connection to planetary life, because we’ll probably never
set foot on a planet again. Apparently a few hundred years ago the Founders
realised that we lived longer if we had some exercise and some normal contact
with planetary environments. That’s why these things were provided. They also act
as incentives for the higher ups who can afford to use them.”
My head felt funny. I couldn’t get used to the constant clash of good versus evil
here. They did these things for our benefit, providing good food and living space,
and yet seemed willing to kill and destroy with equal ease. There was something
rather unsettling about this. On the one hand I wanted to… I am sure I had some
sort of harmful intention in mind, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The
memory kept fading out the harder I tried to look at it. Anyway, I am sure they
weren’t all nice. Filicia continued.
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“The card with your picture on it is your Balance card. Practically everything
you do, every resource you consume, is charged to your Balance. That even goes
for the water that comes out of the taps. This is quite an expensive apartment, but
then you get well paid as a Technician, so you can afford it. At the end of every
day you get paid for the work you have done and the costs for the apartment are
deducted. There will be enough left over to pay for meals, entertainment and any
hobby activity you might wish to take up.”
The word hobby meant something to me, as it had been in the Teacher briefing,
but I had never had one before. I explained this to Filicia. ‘I have never had a
hobby. I sort of understand what they are, but I don’t understand how anybody
would get the time to waste like that. When I finished work in the fields there would
be the animals to look after and the lining of the walls to complete before the
winter set in. There would never be time to sit around and do something
unproductive.’
Filicia looked somewhere between concerned and sympathetic. “You have had a
hard life, Joran. On my Homeworld it was not very different to this place really.
People didn’t have to work all the time, so they could do little hobby activities to
pass the time. My mother used to paint pictures of rivers and forests; it was very
peaceful compared to the hustle-bustle of working in the city.”
She had looked inward to a distant place in her mind; a quieter time. “Anyway,
back to business. Your Balance must always stay positive, even if you get ill and
can’t work, so don’t spend it too fast. You can see what you have in your account
and all the transactions by putting your card into the base of your Vid. These food
items won’t be on your card. This is all part of the introductory stuff that I didn’t
get around to yesterday.”
I felt uncomfortable. Was I just being made comfortable as part of her job? She
got up to leave and I confronted her with my concern. ‘So you were just doing your
job yesterday?’
She had been moving slightly in the direction of the door, but now she stopped.
As she came over towards me I stood up. She was not smiling, but equally she was
not angry. “Is that what you think?”
She pushed me back up against the wall, more by sheer willpower than by force.
She kissed me so that I knew that I had been kissed, then pulled her head back
slightly, her breasts still pushed up against my chest. “Is that what you think?”
I was convinced. ‘No, no, I… NO, I don’t think that.’
Her hands had found their way to my manhood and found it to be swelling. “I
can’t stay, I have to get back to my apartment. If you want me, then you had better
go for it; here, now, with clothes on and quickly.”
I hardly needed the invitation. As I turned her around so that she was backed up
against the wall, she had already removed the beast from its cage. The breath of air
upon the beast made it enlarge all the quicker and it was at full strength as she
guided it to her destination. There was no subtlety today, only urgency. It
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burrowed in at full power and she gasped slightly at the first incursion. Her
breathing kept pace with my rhythmic thrusting until that final judder, as first I
came and then a moment later, as if triggered by my seed pumping into her, she
also came.
I withdrew and stood beside her breathless. I noticed that the sweat was beading
on my forehead, but she looked only slightly flushed. I returned the sated beast to
its lair. She pulled away from the wall and gave a shrug with her whole body, as if
to realign all her joints. She brushed my lips lightly with hers and glided across the
room to the door. At that distance I could no longer see her clearly. My eyes were a
bit fogged by the exertion I suppose.
She slipped out through the opening door silently. As the door slid shut behind
her, I noticed an empty space in the room where she had been. I made my way
across to the table and slumped into a chair. With no particular urgency I arranged
the contents of the bag across the length of the table. There were packages of
various shapes and sizes, but the packaging was all very consistent. It was all of
one type of smooth material, with plain writing on it telling you what it was and
what you did with it. There were even little pictures on some of the packets to
show you what the product looked like.
I noticed that the writing was coming off on my hands and started handling the
packets more carefully. I remembered that the packaging was recyclable and that
the ink was water soluble in order to make the material easier to recycle. All very
practical.
This food was all very generically safe. It was basic food, without added
flavourings or colourings. It was selected for the highest possible compatibility
with humanoid life forms. I selected a packet at random; there was no basis for
making an informed choice. The packet said to add water and heat. Adding the
water was easy, but the heating was going to be more of a challenge. I hunted
about the room, but found nothing resembling a heating device. It was then that I
noticed a rectangular discontinuity in the surface of the wall. There was also an
activating plate by the side of the rectangle. Touching it made me “remember” not
only what it was, but also how it worked and how to fix it.
I was getting a bit annoyed at having to touch things to know what they were. I
would just have to touch everything until I got the hang of this place. Touching the
plate caused the rectangular discontinuity to slide back out of the way and a door
to open. It was an RF heating unit and inserting the packet into it automatically
programmed the cooking cycle. The door closed by itself when I removed my hand
and the heating cycle also started by itself.
Of course these heaters were fully adaptive variable frequency power generators.
The food was cooked uniformly because the swept frequency generator didn’t
allow resonant hot-spots to form. All very clever and very effective. The food was
cooked in the time it took me to mentally review the cooker’s technical data.
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The door popped open and I pulled out the container of food. Despite the food
being suitably hot, the packaging was not even warm to the touch; I could just use
the spoon from the packet to feed the food into my mouth. Not bad. Some sort of
bland soup/stew; something in-between really. I took it into the Vid room and put
my Balance card into the Vid. It displayed all the transactions since I had been
given the card. The clothing was expensive, but easily covered by the advance I
had been given. Furthermore, today’s pay had taken my Balance higher. In one day
I had earned enough to pay for the apartment and the food for the whole week.
This set my mind at ease considerably. I could live like this for a while and let
things stabilise a bit.
I soon finished off the food and threw the container down the refuse chute. This
place was just filled with chutes, ducts, wiring and the like. A long drink of clear
cool water and I was finished.
Today my legs were not protesting as much as they had done yesterday, and I
thought it best to give them some more work. Going through to the Vid room, I
again browsed the channels whilst stretching. This worked the body and at the
same time kept the mind occupied. Whilst kicking and punching required attention
to perfect, stretching was a gravity assisted duty that had little to do with the spirit.
A diversion was useful to stop the mind wandering into the stretched limbs.
Just a short stretch then some warm-up moves of arms and legs. Paradoxically I
was less able today than yesterday. This was always a problem. Uncle had
explained that when you first started training your body would protest and that
throughout this time you were vulnerable. It was very easy to damage yourself
during this period; you were trying to improve the capability of the various parts of
the body and this action temporarily weakened them. He did give the body parts
names, but they didn’t seem important at the time and I had failed to remember
them.
I took it easy and was gentle with my actions. Nothing too rapid or violent. I
wanted to improve with minimal damage. A little bit every day was going to be
better than going all out. It would take longer, but the subsequent weakness would
be less. I would still be able to defend myself if I needed to. I returned to the
stretching after a shorter period than yesterday. The stretch was not as good today.
Never mind. Over the next few weeks it would get better. I just had to be patient.
It had been a long day and I was tired. I wasn’t about to stand on ceremony or
tradition here. Turning off the Vid, I retired to the bedroom. I just peeled off my
work clothes and threw them on the floor. One of the advantages of Rayolin was
that it wouldn’t crumple or crease whatever you did to it, so why treat it well? I
slumped into the bed and fell soundly asleep.
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6 Rape!
I awoke alert and refreshed. This was a nice feeling. It was still a long time before
the work period, since I had gone to bed very early last night. My clothes lay in a
heap where I had thrown them. I noticed a stale sweaty smell and realised that it
was coming from me; I could use a wash.
When I lived on the farm, there wasn’t much opportunity to wash very often,
particularly in the winter. During the summer I would often freshen up in the
stream, but sometimes even this was not possible. When the rains didn’t come for
some time, the stream turned into a trickle and water was too scarce to ruin by
muddying it up. Of course in the winter time, it was too cold to go bathing in the
stream; a cloth and a bucket had to suffice. But this was not done too often because
it was quite a chore carrying all the water up to the house.
Here water was abundant. You could drink it and wash in it as you pleased. Oh
no, not quite true. The cost would be added to your bill. Oh well, never mind the
expense. I smelt like a goat on heat. Not an ideal state of affairs. The shower unit
was in the corner of the room and I had not used it before. I stepped in and knew
what it was all about immediately. As I closed the door, the water sprays started
from all directions. The water jets were modulated at various audio frequencies to
produce a scrubbing effect. The sound was also soothing, a singing shower.
The dispenser on the wall ejected spurts of green goo when activated by hand
placement under the nozzle. This stuff was to wash both the hair and the body.
Again it was unscented and naturally coloured, so as not to cause problems for the
many different types that might use it. I felt my face as I washed. No re-growth of
my beard. Not even stubble. I hadn’t really noticed it before, but none of the men
here had facial hair. I had assumed that they cut it, but mine wasn’t growing now.
Presumably that cream we had rubbed in, after we were shaved when we arrived,
had the permanent effect of stopping hair growing.
The water had stopped flowing by now and was replaced by large jets of hot air.
I was drying off very rapidly and used the comb from a little slot in the wall to
straighten out my hair before it dried. Fortunately, the mirror had also dried off, so
I could see what I was doing.
As I hadn’t yet realised that there was a laundry facility built into the wall, I put
my uniform back on un-cleaned. It didn’t seem to smell too badly anyway. Just out
of interest, I tried the Balance card in the Vid. The shower had shown up on the
expenses now. It wasn’t a trivial amount of my Balance, but it was going to be a
necessary expenditure.
I was hungry; but what was I going to eat? I looked at the array of food on the
table in the kitchen. It was not at all clear what would be better for breakfast and
what was more suitable for an evening meal. There was a sachet of something
called Fizz. The packet said that it was an invigorating tonic. Well I didn’t need
invigorating right then, so I saved it for later. I searched through the packets
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diligently. ‘Sunrise Surprise’; now that sounded like food for the morning! The
packet said to add water and stir, so that is just what I did. Again this was an eat-
out-of-the-packet meal with a built-in spoon. The surprise for me was the texture.
It was alternately hard and soft. Bits of crunch in a sloppy base. The sensation was
unusual and not at all unpleasant. It did not taste of much or smell strongly, but
what it lost in taste and smell, it made up for in texture and bulk. It was a
pleasantly big packet and by the time I had finished it, I felt full. A full stomach
being a happy stomach, I took it through to the Vid room and rested it.
There was still plenty of time until work, so I played with the controls on the
Vid. There were all sorts of menu selections on it and soon I had found a
description of the operations of the facilities of the apartments. There were several
levels of apartment available to me, but not the ones above my station in life. I
went straight for this style of apartment and got to know what things were
available. As soon as I touched them I would know how to operate them, but some
of the devices were discretely hidden and would not ordinarily get touched. Thus it
was necessary to have a guide to point out what to touch and what things were
available.
I spotted cupboard and storage areas that I had missed on my previous searches
around the apartment, but most importantly the clothing refresher. It was only
necessary to dump the clothes into a chute and they would be cleaned and dried
overnight. I wasn’t about to try this now as I had to go to work soon, but tonight it
would be a must. For now I moved on to other searches.
Food. There must be something about food. Sure enough there was a complete
listing of various food types, from the generic safe food types, to the more specific
potentially risky types. There was a lot of it and there wasn’t time to absorb all of
it. No doubt this was omitted from the Teacher briefings because it was non-
essential and they didn’t want to overload the recipient with unnecessary facts.
After all, the Teachers were there to make you productive, not to make you happy.
I was going to shut down the Vid when I spotted a link to a Crimes page. My
interest was piqued.
CRIMES PUNISHABLE BY DEATH
• Plotting to overthrow the rule of the Founders
• Striking a Founder
• Harming a Founder
• Seriously damaging the City
• Endangering the air supply
• Endangering the food supply
• Endangering the water supply
• Malicious large waste of materials
• The killing of a citizen of higher rank than oneself
• The murder of a citizen of equal rank or one rank below oneself
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CRIMES FOR WHICH ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT IS LIKELY
• Not obeying the wishes of a Founder immediately
• Speaking unkindly to a Founder
• Speaking unkindly about a Founder
• Discussing the security arrangements within the City
• Speaking against the way of life in the City
• The pursuit of a religion
• The rape of a citizen of equal or higher rank than oneself
• The rape of a citizen who is indentured to a citizen one rank lower than oneself or any
rank higher than that.
• Being a liability to the City (measured by a negative Balance)
• Not obeying the direct order of a citizen of any rank two or more steps above you.
• Unnecessary serious damage to City resources, including workers.
• Conspiracy. Any unauthorised meeting of more than 4 persons is considered as
conspiracy.
• Public debate. Any unauthorised discussion or talk to a group of 4 or more persons is
a debate.
• Incitement to disorder. Any talk to any person against the interests of the City.
Some of this made sense. Damaging the air, food or water could kill everyone, so it
made sense to protect others from such danger. The ones about persons of higher
rank seemed to be very carefully worded. This meant that it was ok for a higher-up
to murder or rape somebody lower down on the scale. This could only be described
as evil; pure and simple evil. But then to speak out against this was to court
punishment. And the only avenue of escape to a higher sense of spirituality,
religion, was closed as well.
I had never been a believer in religion. I was young and strong; I could look out
for myself. I didn’t need to enlist the help of the sun-god to make the crops grow. I
used the water from the stream and the tools in my shed to make the crops grow.
Sometimes they were reluctant to grow and needed a lot of encouragement. At
these times I worked harder; I didn’t need to grovel to some ancient gods to help
me out.
Having said this, I had seen the older men and women embracing various gods
and they seemed to get on well together. There was a certain calmness that I saw in
their eyes… Bah, that was for old men and old women. What need had I for that
stuff? And yet now, as I looked about where I was and what might happen, I felt
that I could use the help of a powerful friend. It would be nice to have some hope
of a brighter future, or else what was there? An endless march from day to day,
going ever downwards; always fearful that my next slip would be my last and that
there would be no recovery from that slip.
Bah. I was thinking like an old woman. I turned off the Vid and looked at the
clock on the wall. Aghh! I was late. I rushed out of the door, grabbing my Balance
card from the Vid as I left, and ran all the way to the maintenance shop. Careless!
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I was the last to arrive, but I was not actually late. The Master Technician had
not yet appeared and the others were milling around, waiting. I greeted them and
they all responded in a somewhat restrained fashion. Even Lorek was not his
bouncy self this morning. Well, what did I know? Maybe this was his usual state
and yesterday he was just unusually friendly. It was hard to say for sure. In any
case, the Master Technician soon showed up and there was no more time left for
thinking. He handed out the epads silently to the others and gave me mine last.
“Ok, Joran, you’re on your own today. I hope you make it.” With this, he
pointed to a toolkit in a wall cavity with my name above it. “That one is yours.
Look after it.”
Having said this, he returned to his office. The others were already gathering up
their toolkits and leaving. Lorek whispered something to J’an as he left and I was
on my own. Huh? What was this all about? What did he mean that he hoped I’d
make it? I didn’t like the sound of that.
I collected my toolkit, and having inserted my Balance card into the epad, I got
my first work instruction. Fix a light bulb in section K:23-3. Easy. No problem.
This was just like yesterday. Strictly no problems. The next job was replacing a
sensor in an oven. This was covered by the cost of renting the apartment, so there
was no additional cost to the resident. Evidently the schedule could be set up so
that the visit would occur when the resident was on a week-end. This meant that
their work would not be interrupted and they would not lose any pay as a result.
This poor fellow was glad to get his cooker fixed. It had been a week since the
thing had broken down and he hadn’t had a hot meal during that time. At the same
time as being grateful he also seemed scared. Perhaps because he was a Yellow
and I was therefore a higher rank than him; therefore I could harm him with
impunity.
I had a horrible thought. If that technician who had been with me at the Teacher
session had got through to the stage of getting his new collar, he could have taken
Filicia by force. I hoped she was a good fighter; with her stunning looks I could
see her having trouble in this respect. Although it did occur to me that anyone two
ranks above her, could order her to have sex with them. It wasn’t something I
wanted to think about in any great detail.
The next job also looked simple. Change a bulb in an apartment. I went to the
storage bin and picked up the new bulb and quickly arrived at the apartment. I was
let in by a brown-collared frail middle-aged man. He seemed unusually frail, as if
consumed by some wasting disease. He pointed out the faulty bulb and I set to
work to change it. He was watching me very carefully as I worked. Too closely in
fact; it made me distinctly uncomfortable. I finished the job as quickly as I could
and prepared to leave. The frail man was blocking my path and directed me into
the Vid room. “You are new to this job aren’t you?”
This did not seem like an idle chat to me. ‘Yes.’
He frowned. “Make that Yes Sir.”
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I didn’t like this at all. ‘Uh … yes sir.’
He activated the controls on the Vid and a screen entitled ‘Rankings’ appeared.
“Well, I need to show you something.”
RANKINGS
• Founder
• Black
• Brown
• Blue
• Green
• Yellow
• White
• none
It was interesting that those without collars had the highest or the lowest ranks. In
the case of non-Founders, even a lowly White was higher. The frail old man gave
me time to absorb the information. “How many ranks above you am I?”
Well this wasn’t the most complicated question in the universe, so I answered
without hesitation. ‘Two … Er … two sir.’
He seemed displeased with my response. “When you speak to any superior you
must always say ‘Sir’. Don’t ever forget that.”
I nodded meekly. He then set the Vid to display punishments. Whilst not public
executions in the sense that there were no witnesses actually at the events, these
executions had been filmed to show newcomers the penalties for non-compliance.
They were not elaborate, just a brief introduction of the person and their crime and
then the penalty.
The vid announcer was very matter of fact. “Chonsan. Deliberately vented five air
tanks into space when we were under attack: Death by Space.”
The execution was quite gruesome, as they put him in a special airlock and
pressurised it several times beyond the normal pressure. When they blew the hatch
out, you could see the flesh being ruptured by the fluids inside his body boiling
and erupting through a multitude of skin breaks. This was the reason he had been
left naked in the airlock. They wanted us to see the flesh breaking all over his body
and the life being ripped from him. Not nice, but arguably fitting for the crime.
“Feldin. Refused to submit to the wishes of a Founder. Struck the Founder with her
hand. A Double Death sentence: Death by vermin.”
This was grotesque. She was tied to the floor, spread-eagled and naked, as a
wave of hungry gnawing creatures was released just off camera. In fact, they
looked very much like the creature that Lorek had dubbed a ‘space-rat’ only
yesterday. They swarmed over her, chewing her flesh indiscriminately. Fortunately
she passed out very quickly, after an initial harrowing bout of incessant screaming.
I looked away as they gnawed at her now unconscious body.
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“Grint. His Balance went marginally negative five times. The sixth time he went
only a fractional amount negative, less than the previous occasions even.
Considered a liability. Attitude adjustment.”
Despite feeling a bit sick at the previous scene and feeling like dropping
everything and running until my legs could carry me no more, I listened. This is
what had been mentioned yesterday. I forced myself to watch.
Grint was taken to a chamber by two large guards. He was struggling; evidently
he had seen this done to others. They took him into a small room with a large
window and a chair. The chair had straps on the arms and what looked like a
Teacher above it. This Teacher was a very heavy and bulky thing compared to the
ones I had seen, however.
The guards left the room and the Teacher lowered itself into place. Grint was
screaming, not in pain, but in fear of pain. Then the Teacher started and the
screaming changed in both intensity and quality. Now he was in pain as well. The
screaming reached a point at which I felt he could not survive and at this point the
screaming suddenly stopped. His face drained of any emotion, of any semblance of
life in fact. There was a faint trickle of drool from the corner of his mouth as the
Teacher continued to bombard whatever was left of his mind. It seemed as if his
eyes were the last part of himself to yield. The facial tension had dropped away
first, but the eyes had clung to awareness until the bitter end. And then they too
succumbed to the unrelenting onslaught of the machine. This was no Teacher; this
was an eraser of minds!
It was over and the guards released him. He didn’t move. A guard ordered him
to stand up and he did. He stayed where he was when last ordered to do something.
The guard ordered him to walk and he did - straight into a wall. His nose bled from
the impact, but he continued trying to walk through the wall. This was almost
comical, but at the same time I had seen a man reduced to a robot. It would have
been more humane to have killed him, but then this was Arslykus, not a humane
place, not a civilised place. In fact, if you wanted a place to represent the Hell that
some of the Religious types on my Homeworld had described to me, this place
would do. City of shame, domain of evil, hell in space; any of these would do to
label this place.
I was on a roller coaster of passion. Violently angry one moment and ecstatically
happy with Filicia the next. It didn’t seem right to experience such intense changes
of emotion so rapidly. Surely this was more than a person could possibly stand.
The frail old man flashed the Vid up to the crimes page and somehow managed
to highlight the crime of not obeying the direct order of a citizen of rank two or
more steps above you. He spoke. “Do you understand what this means?”
I nodded my head before speaking. ‘Yes … sir’.
“Good. This is a direct order. Go over to that wall, unfasten your uniform then
pull it down to your knees.”
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He pointed to the wall with his left hand. I moved slowly over to the wall and
put my toolkit and epad down. What should I do? It was a question of doing what
he said or fighting him. If I were to fight him, and take him out, then the epad
would know I had been here. There was no way to get away with overpowering
this guy and escaping. I was trapped. I had not been in worse circumstances, even
in the White Zone. I did as he commanded.
He came up behind me. “Open your legs a bit wider and lean against the wall
with your arms spread out. Yes, good. Arms spaced a little bit further apart.
Excellent.”
I was off balance. With my arms and legs like this, it was more difficult to make
sudden movements. He rubbed his hands up and down my body. What was he
looking for? What was he doing? Then he plunged his cold leathery hands into my
underwear and grabbed my tackle. I flinched and tried to move away, but he had a
firm grip on me by now. “Stand still. That is an order.”
He kept reinforcing the fact that it was an order and somehow this made me less
able to react. Was this part of the Teacher training, leaving a susceptibility to being
given orders, or was I just a coward in the face of danger? It would be easy to
blame the Teacher, so I didn’t have to accept responsibility for my own inaction.
He toyed with my manhood, stretching, squeezing, pulling, gripping. I was
pleased that it didn’t respond to him. This wasn’t just my revulsion at the prospect,
I am sure. My old boy was worn out due to earlier campaigns with Filicia. Battle
fatigue was helping me out here. He cradled my sack in his other hand, having first
lowered my underwear at the rear.
It seemed that he was trying to stick a finger up my rear passage, but my muscles
were clenched. Nothing could break through their iron grip. He slapped my rear
cheeks. “Loosen these muscles now!”
They loosened all on their own and the finger penetrated a short way. It seemed
to be lubricated as it slid very easily and felt slightly slimy. Ugh; that wasn’t his
finger! He still had a firm hold on my tackle and it only took him a few pushes to
achieve his objective. I heard a quiet low grunt from him and felt a slight dribble of
fluid on my skin and the ordeal was over. The fluid trickled down my inner thigh
and he wiped it away with a cloth.
He spoke in a stilted fashion, a bit breathless. “You can go now.”
I pulled my uniform back up before turning around. When I turned and picked
up my toolkit and epad he was gone. I left at a lethargic pace, the energy drained
from my soul. Soul? That was a word that the Religionists of my Homeworld had
used. I didn’t know what it meant and they didn’t seem to know either. It was some
sort of mumbo-jumbo. But this wasn’t a physical condition I felt. I felt as if
something vital to life had been removed from me. Not just a sense of dignity,
something intangible but important, some purity had been removed. That was it: I
felt unclean and I felt that it was going to take more than a shower to cleanse
myself of it.
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There were other jobs to do that morning, but fortunately they were all in
corridors and access ways. There was no more contact with people until lunch
time. I had been doing the work on automatic and it was as if I was not quite all
there.
Time for lunch came and I keyed the appropriate sequence into the epad. I was
the first to arrive at the café and I sat at the same table as yesterday. I was the only
customer in the place. Since I had seen some food items on the Vid that morning, I
had some idea what to order this time. I ordered a fish dish which was quite
expensive.
On my Homeworld it was a treat to have a fish. We would go down to the big
river on a fishing trip once per year. It was more like a family outing really. We
arranged to make a day of it and relatives came in from all around the countryside
to fish. Well, the fishing was the least of it really. After we had become married
and set up our own homes, we would not get to see each other otherwise. I suppose
I associated the fish with the family spirit and it refreshed me to think of it. I was
far away when the waiter returned with my fish and a cup of water. We did the
Balance card thing just before Gron arrived.
Gron grunted a greeting at me and placed an order with the waiter without
looking at the menu. After all, he had been coming here for lunch for years, so he
had no problem knowing what was on the menu. J’an arrived moments later and he
too ordered without the menu before the waiter had a chance to leave.
I was sizing up my fish, looking for an avenue of attack. J’an saw my hesitation.
“You don’t have to stand on ceremony for us, Joran. Just dive in.”
I nodded agreement to this and dived in. I hadn’t been waiting for permission,
but when it came, it spurred me into action. The steam rose from the fish as I cut
into its flesh. The pale pink flesh looked good, but as it entered my mouth it gave
me no pleasure. It probably had taste and texture, but these things were lost on me.
It did not take me back to my Homeworld and my family; therefore it was a
fraudulent sensation. I had been cheated out of the best things in my life; my
freedom, my dignity, my self respect. What was life without these things?
I had no appetite really, but I ate as an automaton might eat. Much as I might
imagine that the people who had had their attitudes adjusted might eat. I had been
eating steadily and there had been no conversation. J’an took it upon himself to
clear the air. “Joran, we know what happened this morning. It happens to all the
new guys on their first day out. It’s happened to us. It’s like an initiation ceremony
and it probably won’t happen again. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to
learn to deal with it. That’s just the way things are here.”
I looked up briefly and our eyes met for an instant. I could tell he knew what he
was talking about. He had been there and survived; so could I.
Their food arrived with a whiff of stench. Gron’s food again I presumed. It
looked different from what he had had yesterday, but it smelled worse if anything.
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J’an had a salad again, just like yesterday’s. I was feeling a bit less of an outcast
now. ‘How do you two manage to arrive exactly on time?’
J’an looked at Gron and smiled, then looked back at me. “Well, we’re old hands.
We can estimate the jobs really accurately and pace ourselves to get them done just
on time; not sooner and not later.”
I understood. If they were close to lunch time, they would string out the last job
to make it exactly on time. I understood this. ‘Fair enough, but in that case, where
is Lorek?’
J’an looked at Gron. Gron was definitely the senior man in this group. J’an
managed to stuff his mouth overfull with food to stall his having to give an answer
immediately. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say he didn’t know. Gron didn’t
even shrug in response. If I wasn’t going to get anything else out of them on the
subject, I might just as well continue with my fish. I can’t say ‘enjoy my fish’
because I wasn’t really enjoying it. I am sure that if I had been in a better mood,
then I would have enjoyed it; but as it was, I was feeding the body as one might
feed livestock. It was practically down at the level of an autonomic response. The
body could have been said to be feeding itself as I watched on, an uninterested
spectator.
The body finished feeding itself on automatic and I had the use of it again.
Something bad had happened this morning, but I just put it away. It was something
unpleasant, so I wouldn’t look at it. If I looked back in time to that incident I
wouldn’t see anything. I would file it under ‘unpleasant things I don’t wish to
remember’ and put a black dust cover over it. If I happened to stumble across it,
then I wouldn’t even know that there was something there that I was hiding from
myself. I looked up at the others ready for companionship. ‘I suppose Lorek just
miscalculated and got stuck on a long job.’
It had been several minutes since anybody had spoken and J’an weakened first.
“Lorek has never been this late. Never. I think something has happened to him.
When we left this morning he said…”
Gron grunted and shook his head, putting his finger to his lips. He looked
around the room, and seeing no-one around he picked up all three epads and put
them three tables away. Our Balance cards were left on the table, so it didn’t matter
if the epads got mixed up.
Gron returned to the table and whispered to us. ‘Keep your voices down and be
quick.’
J’an continued. “Lorek said he was going to open up an epad to see if it
contained a microphone. He couldn’t stand the idea of being spied on like that and
he said he just had to do it. He obviously opened it up and they found out. I don’t
think we’ll be seeing him again.”
Gron spoke for the first time. ‘We need to bring the epads back to the table or
they will realise that there is something wrong.’
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With this he quickly went over to the other table and retrieved the epads.
Nothing more was said. There was nothing more that could be said. I just left them
eating and returned to work. That afternoon was uneventful. Just the routine of
more replacement of parts. I never really had to fix anything, it was all just the
replacement of parts. … We never did see Lorek again.
After that episode I was more careful about what I said in front of an epad. It
now came to symbolise the enemy. I loathed it and felt that I had a spy on my
shoulder as I carried it around.
In the days that followed there were more replacement parts and more evening
visits from Filicia. She never stayed long. She came over for a kiss and a cuddle,
and always we would make love. There was never the time for a long session, like
that we shared on our first day together. There was just the urgent rush to climax
before she had to leave. If we talked too much, then there was less time to make
love; sometimes we talked a lot and made love frantically; other times we talked
very little and made love a whole lot. Both ways were good. I needed the
companionship, the friendship, the love. She was my best friend as well as my
lover.
After she left in the evening there was time to stretch my legs and arms. To fight
imaginary opponents and beat them to the punch. I was not seeing any rapid
improvement, but I was making progress. Just to continue was to ensure progress.
It wasn’t necessary to try too desperately hard. Just keeping at it would eventually
get you there. This is what made the whole exercise possible. There was this hope-
factor present. If you just stuck with it then it would all turn out right. A
comforting consideration.
By the end of the six-day shift I was ready for a break. I had earned a good sized
Balance and Filicia came over at the start of the ‘work’ period. It had worked out
that our ‘off’ day, the week-end, coincided and we could spend the day together.
Somehow she seemed especially radiant today. “Today I am going to show you
some of the best points of our City. You have seen the worst and it’s only fair that
you see the best.”
I was unconvinced. ‘Don’t the Founders keep the best bits for themselves?’
She seemed to be a bit taken aback by this. “Well, sure. I meant that I would
show you the best bits that were on offer to us. Actually to you. I can’t go to some
of these places on my own, but you can take me there as your guest.”
I took advantage of her on this point, grinning impishly. ‘Oh, I see; you’re just
using me then.’
She saw through my ploy and closed in on me. “Absolutely.”
She breathed the words just a hair’s breadth from my face and then kissed me
full on the lips. As my lips moved to return the kiss, her hand dropped to my groin
and she tweaked my tackle playfully. ‘Ouch!’
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We both separated from each other, laughing. She stood at a distance, hands on
hips, looking at me. “Come on, handsome, we’ve got places to go and things to
see.”
I slipped my Balance card into the pocket of my casual clothes. It seemed
unusual not to be wearing work clothes. I had been wearing them every day and I
didn’t change out of them when I came home at night. Home: I used the word
home! Strange to think of this place as home and yet it seemed to provide the
illusion of safety from the outside world of the City. It was where I slept and it was
also where I made-out with the woman that I loved. I guess that made it a home. In
any case it was the only home that I now had. There was another that I used to
have, back in the mists of time, but that one no longer existed.
Filicia came over to me and linked her arm through mine. “Come along.”
It was so comforting to be with her. It wasn’t that I worshipped the ground that
she walked on, or anything like that; it was just that I felt so alive when I was near
her. Her hair, her voice, her smell, her smile; she just lit-up wherever she was and
without her I felt lifeless. It was a bit like being addicted to a Bala root. I had seen
people start using it to help with some loss or pain and it worked well on these
things, provided you didn’t take it for too long, or in too great a quantity.
People who took too much usually died. Not quickly, you understand, but
slowly; over a period of time. The idea was to boil the root and make a herbal tea.
You could tell when people had gone too far because their lips went purple where
they had been chewing the raw roots. By the time you got to this point, you were
too far gone to help. The craving was insurmountable.
There were stories of friends of addicts tying them up, to prevent them from
getting another fix. Although well intentioned, this resulted in the person dying
even faster from the effects of withdrawal. Anybody who had got to this point was
finished. The body cried out for more, and not to get more was fatal. Unfortunately
getting more was also fatal. Once you got to this point, people tended to just grieve
for you and leave you alone.
No, no; it was nothing like the Bala root. Yes, the Bala root made you feel good
to start with, but it very rapidly developed into a dependency which killed you if
you didn’t get enough. I would not die if I was without her, although I might wish I
had. Also, if I stayed with her this would not, of itself, kill me. It was insulting of
me to compare her to a toxic, addictive drug. I admonished myself for thinking
such a negative thought.
By now she had taken me around a multitude of corridors, so that I would have
been completely lost, even if I had have been paying attention to the route. ‘Filicia.
How do you always know where you are and how to get where you want to go? I
always use the epad and I am lost without it.’
She answered without breaking stride. “Oh it’s easy when you know the system.
You just haven’t seen the overall plan of the City, that’s all. I have been into the
personal spaces of the Founders and they have maps. Also, I happen to have a
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photographic memory. If I’ve seen something once, I can see it in my mind’s eye
whenever I want to. You know all these corridors are numbered, but you just
haven’t seen the pattern yet. If you follow your epad, but watch which corridors
you take, you’ll soon pick it up.”
We turned into a corridor that seemed to be a dead-end. The end of the corridor
was actually dark and indistinct. There was no point in going any further and yet
Filicia urged me forward by a light pressure on my arm. As we reached the
dead-end, the corridor turned slightly to reveal a ladder. There was dull lighting
around the treads so that I could see. She directed me to go up the ladder first.
Well, I could have let her go first I suppose, but then I would be distracted by the
view of her from that angle and there was enough to take in as it was. The ladder
was long; more than the height of the ceiling. In fact it was at least one and a half
floors long. I was breathing noticeably more heavily by the time I reached the top
of the ladder. This was nothing much to do with the exertion, but was simply
anticipation of the unknown.
There was a small inset area at the top of the ladder. Several people could stand
side by side in front of the door. Actually by the size and construction of the
surroundings, it looked more like a bulkhead. It had no markings on it at all. Filicia
keyed in a code on a keypad mounted on the wall and the door opened. I was
surprised. Doors normally opened due to Balance cards or epads. What was all this
keypad stuff? Filicia just answered my unspoken questions as if telepathically
aware of them.
“I knew somebody who was trying to impress me and he showed me this. I am
not supposed to know about it and he thought I would never be able to find my
way back, let alone memorise the key sequence. He was wrong! This is an
emergency inspection and repair port. That’s why it’s opened by a keypad and not
a Balance card or epad. Those work off the Master Computer and the links may not
work during an emergency. None of the life support systems or emergency systems
have anything to do with the Master Computer.”
So there was a Master Computer! We entered a small dark room, but no lights
came on when we entered. No, that’s not quite true, a dull light had turned on, but
it was only evident when the door shut behind us. The reason for there being no
light was that it made it easier to see out of the inspection port. The view below us
was breathtaking. It was a huge transparent dome, facing out into space. We were
looking at the heart of the City, Zone 1, where the Founders lived. The Dome was
exposed to space now, but the massive Armalloy shutters which slid over the
Dome in times of trouble were visible at both ends. The Dome did not extend the
whole width of the ship, that was very clear. In fact the Dome was only half as
wide as the ship. Filicia continued her explanation pointing to highlight the
features.
“All the Zones, except 2, narrow down to one corridor each as they pass along
the side of the Dome. Zone 2 stays fairly wide throughout. You see you can get
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from one end of the ship to the other, still staying in the same Zone. Also, it means
that there is no quick way into Zone 1. There are very limited access points
between zones and they are always guarded. If there were ever to be any trouble, it
would have to go a long way before it got anywhere near the Founders. I remember
one of the Founders telling me that an enemy once did manage to penetrate the
defences and reach Zone 3, but that was as far as they got. There are some rather
nasty devices in Zone 5 apparently, and when they go off everybody in Zones 5
and 4 dies; friend and enemy alike. People in Zone 3 are weakened and some will
die later. It’s like a Doomsday weapon, very indiscriminate. The Founders only
used it as a last resort, when they would otherwise have been defeated, and that
was over a century ago. The defences have been improved a lot since then.”
I had been nodding interestedly during the whole discourse. There was a lot of
information to take in and I was still staring in awe at the Dome. There were open
fields, gardens and ponds. I imagined fish swimming in the ponds, but they would
have been too far away to see. Such beauty mixed with such evil was difficult to
comprehend.
I came out of my reverie as Filicia stopped talking. There was an air-lock behind
her that allowed access to the inside of the Founder’s Dome bay. Furthermore,
there were a pair of spacesuits and tool bags hung up against the wall. This was a
fully equipped emergency repair station to fix up any problems associated with the
Dome or its surroundings. The Founders weren’t about to risk the Dome if they
could help it.
Filicia wanted to know if I was impressed. “Well?”
I was definitely impressed. ‘This is incredible. You seem to know an awful lot
about this place. But surely the Founders are in a risky position being in the
Dome. It looks very vulnerable.’
She stared out into the Dome, but her eyes seemed to be focused on nothing in
particular. “Not true. That Dome is several layers of incredibly strong material.
And only one layer is enough to hold in the atmosphere. In the unlikely event that
the Dome is penetrated there is a repair launch system down there. See that
tower?”
She pointed to a tall thin tower that was considerably higher than any other
structure in the Dome. “If the Dome is punctured then that tower fires a patch to
cover the breach and maintain the structural integrity of the Dome. It may not be
enough to hold the leak, but it would certainly hold long enough to let the
Founders get out into Zone 2.”
“You probably think that the Founders live in Zone 1, but they don’t. They
actually live in Zone 2, and that’s also where the important equipment is. Zone 1 is
a pleasure and administrative area. They spend most of their time in Zone 1, but in
case of danger, or at the end of the day, then it’s back to Zone 2.”
I had been watching her all this time as she spoke. She had a cold feeling in her
voice when she spoke about the Founders. Perhaps a bit remote or clinical. She
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noticed me looking at her and smiled. “Ok, time to go. There’s much more I want
to show you.”
She started to leave, but I hesitated. ‘I take it this isn’t part of the standard
introductory tour.’
She frowned. “This is so far off the standard tour that if you mention this to
anybody we are both likely to get our brains fried. Don’t even think about this
place after we leave, ok?”
I grinned casually. ‘Sure, no problem.’
She returned the grin and we left the way we had entered. The door closed
behind us as we left and she headed for the ladder with me trailing slightly behind.
She was about to put her foot on a rung to begin her descent when she hesitated.
She seemed unsure.
‘What is it Filicia?’
She reversed her course and directed me back to the door with a motion of her
hand. I complied obediently. “Joran, you might as well know the code sequence.
You might find that it will be useful to you in the future. Just don’t go telling
anyone or we’ll all be in trouble.”
I nodded an acknowledgement of this. Let’s face it, if I wasn’t going to tell
anyone I knew about his place, how then could I tell them I knew the code
sequence to the door? Anyhow, I knew how to keep secrets, I had been doing it
since I was a kid.
She pointed to the panel. “This is a numeric keypad. If you enter the wrong code
more than three times in a row then you’ll alert guards who can be here very
quickly. I don’t know if you would have a chance to get away. If it doesn’t open
after three tries then leave it for that day. The code is three-oh-one-oh-seven.
Repeat that.”
I felt a bit silly, but what the hell. ‘Three-oh-one-oh-seven.’
She smiled. “Again.”
‘Three-oh-one-oh-seven.’
“Again.”
‘Three-oh-one-oh-seven.’
“Again.”
‘Three-oh-one-oh-seven.’
She was not fully convinced. “Now key it into the control panel.”
I pressed the keys very carefully and the door opened. We both stepped in then
out again. I am not quite sure why that was necessary, I was just following her.
“Good. Key it in again.”
Again I pressed the keys, perhaps more confidently, and the door opened. We
stepped in and out again.
“Repeat the key sequence out loud.”
‘Three-oh-one-oh-seven.’
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“Good. Now we are going back down the ladder. I want you to repeat that
sequence over and over silently to yourself on the way down.”
Again I nodded acknowledgement of this and she started off down the ladder.
This was a real take-charge kind of woman. Phew! Of course she had memorised
the key sequence instantly when she had first seen it, but she knew that I was not
able to perform this mental feat. She had therefore presented the information to me
in a way that even my limited intellect could handle.
When I had dismounted from the ladder after my descent she linked her arm into
mine and escorted me back down the corridor. The corridor had no doors and no
other exits for a fair distance, although it did bend. When it intersected a main
corridor she stopped.
“If you want to be able to find this place again, then look at this junction very
carefully. There is no marking and it looks like a dead-end from here.”
I looked down the corridor and it certainly did look like a dead-end. I had not
noticed this on the way in, although I had noticed it at the very end of this
particular corridor. There was some subtle trickery employed here to disguise
corridors.
“There is a mark on the wall here, see. There are many corridors like this one
and most of them are genuinely dead-ends. I marked this one when I first came
here and when I came back I enlarged it to make it easier to see. This corridor
continues down here and takes you past the Dome. That is how to remember the
route. There are only two ways past the Dome in this Zone, so if you try them both
then you’ll definitely pass by this junction.”
She had dropped into a conspiratorial whisper for this monologue; now,
reversing the trend, she smiled and brightened up. “Hey, today is supposed to be
our rest day. Let’s go and have some fun.”
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7 Woods
Our rest day had turned into hard work, it’s true. Having to memorise key
sequences and corridors was certainly not my idea of fun, …especially not whilst
in the company of the most spectacularly beautiful woman in the City. On second
thoughts, just being around her was such a pleasure in itself that I was willing to
put up with this strange behaviour on her part. She had said we were now going to
have some fun; I was ready, bring it on!
We continued around more corridors until I was so disorientated that I didn’t
know whether we were heading deeper into the City or towards the edges. She
stopped, apparently at a random position, and put on a serious face.
“We’re now going to go up-town, Zone 3. Because today is not a work day for
me, I can only go there as your guest. If they ask, I’m with you. I doubt that they’ll
ask, but just in case. Now they will ask where you are going, since you don’t work
up-town. Tell them we are going to the woods.”
I was filled with anticipation. Woods on a space ship! How did you grow a tree
on metal? I kept getting confused in my mind. I was intellectually aware that this
was a giant space ship; I had seen its outer skin just a few minutes ago, and yet to
everyone here it was simply ‘the City’. I thought of it both ways and sometimes
even within the same thought. I nodded to Filicia obediently and we turned the
next corner, only to be confronted by two more of the black-suited and
dark-visored guards. These guards seemed even larger than the ones on the Zone 4
bulkhead, and that is saying something. Even their guns somehow seemed larger
and more menacing.
There was a huge ‘3’ on the bulkhead, and as we approached the guards became
more alert. Their guns, whilst not actually pointing at us, were definitely aimed
more in our direction than they had been moments before. One of the guards
stepped forward slightly. “Where are you going?”
His voice was muffled, as if he were wearing some sort of mask beneath the
visored helmet, but the gruffness was not disguised. I spoke with a noticeable
strain in my voice. It wasn’t that I was doing anything wrong, or even that I
planned on doing anything wrong, it was just that these guys reeked of
malevolence. It seemed to me that regardless of what a wonderful person I may
have been, they might just decide it would be fun to blow a hole in me and there
would be nothing much I could do about it. This made me feel a bit less secure
than I would have liked. “We’re going to the woods.”
He looked me over, but spent a lot longer looking over Filicia. From his belt he
then unclipped an epad, not dissimilar to the one I used at work. He held it out
expectantly and Filicia swiped her Balance card through it; I followed suit,
hopefully without any particularly noticeable delay. After an eternity he nodded to
his colleague and moved back out of the way. The colleague keyed something into
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the concealed lock mechanism and the door slid back. After we had passed
through, it closed behind us.
She paused after the door had closed. “I’m sorry. I forgot to mention that they
might ask us to present our Balance cards. They don’t always ask. Anyway, you
handled it well.”
It almost seemed like a test: you handled it well. But something else was on my
mind. It struck me as soon as we passed though the bulkhead. ‘Hey, there’s no
guard this side.’
Filicia turned her head long enough to flash me a smile and carried on leading
the way. “Well done. A good observation. It’s always easy going to an area of
lower status, like going from Zone 4 to Zone 5. Getting back is not always so easy
though. Mind you, if you are obviously transporting something to a lower zone, the
guards would definitely check you out very carefully.”
Somehow the up-town environment of Zone 3 was nicer than that of the
down-town Zone 4. The corridors were wider and better lit. Everything seemed
cleaner, but perhaps that was just the better lighting. It was just obvious that this
Zone was for more influential people. Never-the-less we did not encounter very
many other people, and those we did see were all Blue or higher.
Filicia guided me to the woods, pointing out the administrative areas as we
passed them. There were not a lot of administrative personnel, but those few had to
oversee the management of resources. What this meant is that decisions had to be
made about what materials were needed when the City approached a new world.
How much water to take on, how many ‘new citizens’ to indoctrinate, what
minerals were available and needed from the new planet? Also the day-to-day
running of the City was handled by the administrators. They were all ranked very
high and had a great many privileges. Basically the Founders didn’t tend to get
involved in the grubby struggle for existence that the rest of us were caught up in.
They just wandered on through time and we, the lesser helpers, just popped into
their lives briefly and were gone.
All of this management of assets was carried out by non-Founders. It was
assisted by computers, but not overseen by computers. No computer program could
handle the ever changing task of managing a City.
We started seeing signs showing pictures of trees, with arrows leading the way.
This was very un-characteristic for the City. There were ordinarily no signs and no
maps. Clearly it was not a security risk to have people going to the woods. Indeed
this seemed to be encouraged. Probably it meant that you had no excuse to wander
around up-town. Ah! That was a much more plausible explanation.
Filicia wasn’t always following the arrows, but we were ultimately heading in
the direction they pointed. Of course it was very obvious when we had reached our
destination. The whole end of the corridor was transparent and we could see the
woods spreading out from the doorway in all forward directions. The door to the
woods was transparent and very narrow. There was a Balance card reader on the
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door and Filicia gestured for me to go first. I slid the card lightly through the
reader and passed through the narrow opening into an equally narrow corridor,
again with transparent walls. It was just as well that the walls were transparent
because it felt cramped and tight as it was; opaque walls would have been
incredibly claustrophobic.
A red laser scanning-beam passed briefly over me in a horizontally-moving
vertical stripe. Yes, there was only one person in the corridor. After I was released
from my transparent prison, I had to step carefully over a wide band of spikes. I
paused after stepping over it to figure out what it was there for. It would not be
very nice to step on, and if you tripped and fell on it then that would be the end of
you. Best to stay alert when entering or leaving I suppose.
Filicia put her card through the reader and passed through the corridor as
uneventfully as I did. She saw me studying the band of spikes and as she stepped
over them she answered my unspoken question. “It helps stop the animals
escaping.”
What animals? I didn’t see any yet. She slipped her arm around mine and
dragged me away from my contemplations. “Come on. We’re being charged for the
time we spend in here and it’s pretty expensive; we shouldn’t waste our time in
here.”
The lush green vegetation was springy to the step. Surprising, given that we
were near the entrance and therefore this area was the most heavily used. All the
plants were unfamiliar in their exact detail and yet they were familiar on a more
natural level. This was not an implanted response from the Teachers. It was just
that these were genuine living plants from another world but they still obeyed the
same rules as plants on my Homeworld. This similarity was enough to make the
plants seem familiar, even though I had never seen these particular ones before. I
felt comfortable here.
I held Filicia’s hand as we meandered through the woods. These were very
carefully managed woods. No thorns, no muddy puddles, no biting insects; just the
nice parts of the woods. There were dead trees and leaves and bushes, so it was not
totally sterile and I just loved the place. It felt like being on a planet again. It was
alive and that was very different to the sterile metal boxes that we lived in.
There were no paths, so we just wandered where we wanted. I heard birds
singing and supposed that the sounds came from hidden loudspeakers. I supposed
this, that is, until I saw a real live bird siting on a branch and singing its heart out!
It’s funny how a single fact can dismiss hours of supposition. I could have spent
ages working out how the wires could be routed and how they could be disguised.
The roof was much higher here than in the normal corridors and apartments;
perhaps twice as high. I was getting more information all the time. The roof here
was high; the roof in the down-town square was high. This meant that there was
space above the corridors and above my apartment. What was in there? The roof
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space was certainly a worthy subject for further investigation, but I put it aside. I
had Filicia by my side; that was enough.
A sudden jab in the ribs brought me back from my speculations. “Hey, pay
attention; stay with me. It’s not so much fun on your own.”
She was right of course. I had been drifting off, which is not very flattering to
your companion. She wanted attention and she wanted company, and I was not
being very good at either.
I let go of her hand and went to the nearest tree. It was real, it was not made of
metal; it was alive! I patted the tree with my palm. I could have hugged it, but I
would have felt silly, so I restrained the impulse. Just out of the corner of my eye I
saw a little creature with a big bushy tail sitting on its haunches staring at me. I
stayed perfectly still. Filicia came up alongside me and I put my finger to my lips
and whispered very quietly. ‘Ssshh. Look, there is a little furry creature over there,
and its looking at us.’
She looked at it and smiled and spoke with no particular regard to her volume.
“It’s only a squirrel. There are lots of them in here. They are as curious about us as
we are about them. As long as you don’t move towards them, they won’t run away.
Sometimes they get brave and get almost close enough to touch, but as soon as you
make a move towards them, even as little as putting your hand forward, they’re off.
They don’t get scared by noise though, only by movement. Anyway, I don’t
suppose you could catch it anyway. You probably couldn’t even catch me.”
As she had been talking, she had been preparing and on the final syllable she
was off. I was unprepared, I had been looking at the squirrel intently. Now I turned
and she was dashing off through the trees. She thought she could outrun me did
she? No way!
Now it has to be said that near my home there were very few trees, especially
not large ones. The soil was not deep enough over the underlying rock, so the tree
roots could never get established. This is why it made such good farming land;
there were no trees to clear off the land. There was a small patch of woods near to
where I grew up though. My brothers and I would occasionally hunt small animals
in the woods when we had finished our chores.
It had been many years since I had run through woodland, but as soon as I
started, I knew that my woodcraft had not been lost. I was so good in fact that I
was able to overtake her and then, as she sought refuge behind a particularly large
tree, she was shocked to see me step out from behind it and grab her. She was
totally out of breath and I was only breathing a bit heavily. She was powerless to
resist as I pressed her against the tree and claimed a kiss.
It was only a brief kiss though, it being difficult to be out of breath and kissing
at the same time. We separated slightly to catch our breath and she looked a bit
serious.
“We’d better be heading back. It’s quite expensive in here and I don’t have
enough Balance to stay too long.”
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I wasn’t about to disagree with her. After all, I didn’t know how much this was
costing and I didn’t know how large her Balance was. ‘Fair enough. Which way is
the exit?’
She looked about a bit and shrugged. “I’m not sure. We can always head in a
straight line until we hit a wall, then we can follow it around until we get back to
the entrance.”
That method seemed a bit slow. ‘I think I can do better than that.’
The tree we were next to was the biggest in the area and it seemed to reach up
higher than the rest as well. The trouble is that even the lowest branch was too high
to reach. However, there was a smaller tree next to it which did have accessible
lower branches, and more than this, the branches then crossed over to the larger
tree. I climbed the smaller tree then crossed to the larger one. The branches were
quite close on the larger tree and I was getting scratched a fair amount as I
progressed upwards. I stayed on the main vertical path until I just emerged from
the tops of the other trees. There it was! The entrance was easy to see from here. I
shouted to Filicia. ‘There it is. It’s that way.’
I don’t think she could see the direction I was indicating from where she was
standing, but I now had my bearings so I made my way down. There was no
question of crossing back to the smaller tree. When I arrived at the last branch I
just lowered myself down and jumped the remaining short distance. ‘Come along
then Filicia.’
I tucked her arm around my waist and we walked out of the woods, side by side.
We had to use our cards to activate the doorway again. The computer could then
register us as having left. I had gone out first and I leant against the transparent
wall as I waited for her. Running through the woods and climbing the tree had used
up more energy than I had realised.
Filicia undoubtedly noticed this, but was too polite to draw attention to it and
embarrass me. What men wouldn’t give for a woman like this! A treasure beyond
price.
“I should show you where to buy food and you can stock-up for next week.”
She took my arm and escorted me back to the bulkhead to cross back
down-town. The guards barely paid any attention to us as we passed them on our
way back down-town. We turned this way and that until we emerged into the open
space of the square. It was nice to be in the square again. It was the same square,
seen from yet another angle. Rather than crossing the square, we walked down one
side. There was the café, there was the clothes shop. There was also a rather large
shop, taking up most of one side.
“This one is a sort of mixed store. We used to call them department stores on my
Homeworld. They have a section for practically everything you could want. Here
they don’t compete with the other stores. There is just one store for each type of
item. They are all run by the City. People come in here and get things for their
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hobby activities. I like to look around sometimes, but I never buy anything; it’s all
too expensive.”
We continued walking and having crossed an exit point, we were now heading
down another side. Not all the doors were marked and the function of these
unmarked doors was not apparent. However, when we reached the food supplies
shop, this was very well marked. There was no decorative shop front or display, it
was just a plain solid door with ‘FOOD’ emblazoned on it.
We entered, and sure enough there was packaged food sitting on the shelves.
The whole shop was in fact remarkably plain. There were no colours anywhere in
the packaging and it was difficult to spot the organisation of the food. There were
bags just around the corner of the entrance with a sign saying ‘Pick up a bag and
use it’. We both picked up bags. She looked at me. “Look, this is just a food shop.
You need to get familiar with it and you won’t be able to do that with me in your
hair. I’m just going to get my supplies and take them back to my apartment, then
I’ll meet you at your apartment. Take your time. Look around and see what’s on
offer. You are bound to get back to your apartment before me. Get us something
nice for lunch.”
With this she rushed off down an aisle and was gone. Wait a minute. Did I know
how to get back to my apartment from here? I wasn’t sure, but I guess I would
soon find out.
The food was arranged in groups and in each group there was a wide range of
prices. Clearly you could live on the inexpensive types, or, if you were better off,
you could pick more expensive types; these presumably either tasted better or were
of higher quality. Some of the prices were very high, higher even than a meal at the
café. I picked a selection of packets on the low side of mid-priced. Soups, stews,
breakfast products, main meals. A good collection.
I headed for the single exit point. Filicia was evidently long gone, but there was
a woman customer at the checkout point in front of me. She was a Yellow and she
looked ill. She was leaning against the counter for support, her skin looking as if
she had been dead for several days. Unconsciously I kept my distance, just in case
she had something contagious. The male assistant took her card and swiped it
through the reader. He looked up at her indecisively. “If I put this transaction
through, your Balance will go negative. Do you want to put some of these items
back on the shelves.”
She looked back at him through half open, half fluid filled eyes. ‘I can’t. I’m ill
and I haven’t been able to work for a couple of weeks. I haven’t eaten properly for
days and if I don’t get back to work soon, I’m finished. I need to get my strength
back.’
I could see that the bag was practically empty. There were just a few items on
the bottom. The assistant nodded understanding and completed the transaction
reluctantly, returning the card to the woman when he had finished with it. “I hope
you get well soon.”
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I could see that this wasn’t just pleasantry. He really meant it. We all knew what
not getting well meant, and it wasn’t a nice something. She nodded
acknowledgement of this and picked up the bag of food. She wasn’t even able to
walk properly out of the shop. She was supporting herself along the walls as she
walked. It was quite obvious that she wouldn’t be going to work today and
probably for a few more days after that. And even if she had left some food behind
so that her Balance didn’t immediately go negative, the daily bill for her apartment
would take her Balance negative all on its own. I did not expect to be seeing her
again.
I felt as though I should have helped her and I felt bad for not doing so.
Certainly on previous occasions here, helping others was demonstrably a bad idea.
Maybe soon I could get to a point where it would be safe to do so. At the moment
though, I wasn’t sure what state my own Balance was in. I tried to put it out of my
mind, but only succeeded to a very limited degree.
I wasn’t sure if I had too much food, or not enough, or what. I thought I had
enough. I still had some stuff over from the load Filicia brought in last week. I
moved forward to the counter and put the bag down on a spot marked with a big
circle. There was a vertical side to the counter at this point and I could hear the
scanning device inside the vertical cover as it invisibly scanned the bag of food.
I handed over my Balance card to the unsmiling assistant and he passed it
through the reader on the counter. It flashed up a total on the display and he
handed my card back to me. Wow, that was a rather large number. Rather more
than I had in mind to be frank. I picked up the bag of food and left the store.
It was interesting that the exit was not marked on the outside. This was probably
why there were so many unmarked doors in the square. I stood still and tried to
work out where I was. There was the café, … and there was the centre of the
square. Now I had come in that way and there was the corridor I had come out of
the other day, so if I took that one then I should get to my apartment fairly easily.
I followed my chosen path, keeping track of the landmarks on the way. When I
had been with Filicia I had not really been paying enough attention to my
surroundings. Well, that was no big surprise I suppose. Nevertheless, I needed to
be able to find my own way around as well. This was a good opportunity. I was
soon out of the square and heading down featureless corridors. No, that’s not quite
true. Whilst the walls were featureless, there were the corridor markings every now
and then and there were the shapes of the passages.
If I could remember the shapes and patterns of the corridors, this would be like
remembering landmarks. A bend here, an intersection there; these corridors had
distinct patterns much as a tree had patterns in its branches. I could tell one tree of
the same species from another, so therefore I should be able to tell one corridor
from another. It was just a question of training. Well, what else was there to do
around here? I was going to get a lot of practice walking around corridors in my
job as a Technician, so I might as well use that time to my advantage.
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Somehow the pattern of these corridors seemed more familiar. It’s strange. The
corridors were all plain and undecorated, but something about their shape was
getting familiar. I knew where I was! It was only a few intersections away now.
My pace quickened despite the load, which was beginning to feel heavy. I was
home. The bag had to be lowered to the floor in order for me to get out my Balance
card. Having swiped it through the reader, the door would stay open for a long time
before shutting unless I entered.
I picked up the bag of food and took it into the kitchen area. Leaving it on the
table, I rushed through to the Vid room and put the card in the slot. I wanted to see
how my Balance was doing. It was only a few key presses until the current state of
my Balance was displayed along with all transactions. The food bill was trivial in
comparison to the trip to the woods. This short excursion in the woods had cost the
equivalent of three week’s rent. I was getting very low on funds. But if I was short
of funds, what about Filicia? You had to figure that a Green got paid more than a
Yellow, so she could be in real trouble.
The door chime interrupted this thought and I pulled the Balance card from the
Vid and shut it down. I let Filicia in and we went through to the kitchen. She was
looking a bit pale. I bet she put her card in the Vid in her apartment and found out
about her Balance. Or maybe at the shop they mentioned her Balance. Maybe they
even suggested that she buy less because of her Balance. I didn’t like where these
thoughts were leading.
‘Filicia, I don’t really know what’s what with this food, so why don’t you pick
what we are having for lunch.’
She seemed quite happy to do this and spread the contents of the bag across the
table. “Ok. Well, you sure bought plenty of everything. Let’s have the Trancor
steaks with Ector berries and Langsdorf.”
I picked up the packets and read the label. I assumed a suitably servile tone. ‘An
excellent choice madam. I shall prepare them at once. Please make yourself
comfortable.’ I held the chair for her to sit down, as I had seen on the Vid. Rising
to the challenge she straightened herself up and seated herself primly at the table.
Her nose stuck up slightly in an affected air of grace.
The meal came in a big bag, which when opened revealed two inner containers.
The Ector berries came as a mush in a foil-sealed packet and the Trancor steaks
came with the Langsdorf in a separate package. Each bag was a meal for one, so I
had to open two of the combined meal bags. The Ector berries were eaten cold,
straight from the pack, whereas the Trancor steaks and Langsdorf had to have
water added before being heated up. This was very simple idiot-proof cooking
which even I could do. You didn’t even have the chance to set the cooker
incorrectly, as the packet told the cooker how long to cook the package for, and at
what power setting. Guaranteed success in a packet.
There was really no concept of preparation time; by the time I had fished a
couple of plates out of the cupboard and emptied out the Ector berries, the main
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part was cooked. It was only a question of serving up the food. There was the
option with this packaging of putting the Ector berries into the container with the
Trancor steaks and Langsdorf, but this seemed a bit inelegant. I had been eating
like this myself, on my own, but now it did not seem appropriate. Using the plates
was more like a meal at the café, although in this case it was considerably cheaper.
We tucked into the food quietly and Filicia consumed hers with passion and
speed. I thought I was a fast eater! I didn’t know what a Trancor was, only that you
could ride one, so it must be fairly big. In any case, regardless of what they looked
like, they were very tasty.
This meal was over almost before it started. Really there was no slow build up,
no gradual eating and no after-meal dialogue; it was a bit of a non-event really.
The food was eaten. It was very nice, but there was no ceremony or personal touch
involved. It was all a bit mechanical.
The waste packaging went down a re-cycling chute and the plates and cutlery
went into a cleansing chute. Effort free. Time expended: negligible. We now had
the rest of the afternoon to spend together. This time I took the lead. ‘Why don’t we
just have a quiet sit-down in front of the Vid for a while.’
She looked unimpressed by this suggestion, but agreed just the same. We sat
side by side on the sofa, my arm resting around her shoulder. I turned on the Vid
using the remote control. The news: A worker was removed from the food
production facility for threatening to poison the particular line he was working on.
They didn’t mention which product it was to avoid panic. He was removed before
he could do any harm. The execution could be witnessed on the justice channel.
No thanks, … next. A drama: A heroic crew goes to a planet to get the vital food
and water that the City needs and the vicious primitive sentients shoot his shuttle
down. He is left on the surface surrounded by hideous mutants, until he fixes his
transponder and gets rescued. Hooray! But he doesn’t get rescued until after he
loses all of his crew to the unrelenting attacks by the mutants and gets his arm half
chewed off!
Well this consumed about a third of the afternoon. Filicia looked at me
seriously. “Would you come to rescue me if I were trapped by hideous man-eating
mutants?”
A typical woman’s question! ‘No. No need, of course, if they were only man-
eating. Besides, it would be too risky. It would be more efficient to get a fresh
woman from the White zone.’
I wasn’t about to admit that although we had only known each other for a week,
I would risk everything for her and gladly trade my life for hers. It had only been a
week, but we were living at such an accelerated pace that it could have been a
lifetime. She attacked. “Beast!” A pillow hit me in the face from nowhere. My
guard was down; a dirty trick. Her arms were flailing about wildly. She was a very
slippery customer. I grabbed both her arms at once by wrapping my arms
completely around her. She was wriggling so violently that we both fell onto the
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floor, turning in the process; she then fell on me, knocking the wind out of me. My
grip relaxed slightly and she had her hands free. They slipped through openings in
my tunic and grabbed hunks of flesh of no particular strategic importance. Suffice
it to say that we continued this exchange until our passion had been satisfied,
twice. At the end of this our clothing was somewhat dishevelled and so were we.
We lay where we fell, exhausted.
Filicia recovered first. “I better pop back to my apartment and clean up.”
Huh? ‘Don’t leave now. Have a shower here and you can show me some more of
the City. The bits that don’t cost anything to visit though. My Balance is none too
healthy at the moment.’
She looked at me through narrow slitty eyes. “Well, if your Balance isn’t strong,
I shouldn’t use up your water should I?”
I snorted. ‘Oh come on. It’s not that bad. You could shower in here all day and
all night for a week and it wouldn’t make a dent in my Balance. The woods though,
that’s a different matter.’
She reluctantly conceded the point. “Ok then.”
She slipped into the bedroom and I could hear the shower come on. I was up off
the floor now with a purpose. I wanted her Balance card. I entered the bedroom
and found her dress on the bed with the card in a pocket. I quickly extracted it and
stealthily took it to the Vid room to examine the Balance. Damn! She had been
building up a surplus for some time and had blown it all today. Her Balance was
very low. There was something else wrong. She had bought hardly any food today,
not even enough for a few days. And the food she had bought last week was on the
same day she brought some here; it also looked to be the same amount as she
brought here.
That food parcel hadn’t been part of the standard package and she had gone
short herself as a result. No wonder she was looking a bit off colour. And now she
was in serious trouble if anything went wrong. I put the card back in her pocket
and sat in the Vid room to wait for her.
She wasn’t long and she came out looking radiant and refreshed. As she sat next
to me, she smelt good too. I don’t know how she managed it. I used the same
shower gel, but I never smelt like that I’m sure! I wasn’t going to mention the fact
that I knew what she had done with the food. That might have seemed like an
invasion of her privacy. Well, ok, I did invade her privacy, but it was for noble
reasons. ‘Filicia, we don’t seem to spend enough time together during the week.
Why don’t you move in here, with me? There’s plenty of space and we could spend
more time together.’
She grinned. “If we spent any more time together, you’d be exhausted. You
probably wouldn’t be able to walk straight and you might not be able to do your
job properly.”
Well she had a point there; she did drain my strength it has to be said. ‘I wasn’t
talking about sex, I just meant being together, that’s all.’
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She thought about this for a while. This was a tricky negotiation. I knew she
couldn’t afford to buy more food for this next week and she probably didn’t have
any food left at her place either. The trouble is that I couldn’t let on that I knew; I
had found out by an unacceptable method. Also, she was a proud woman and
would not accept what she considered to be a hand-out. Even worse, she would be
particularly offended at the idea of exchange of food for sex.
She had completed her deliberation. “I’m not actually allowed to stay with you.
Here a partner is a privilege. You can have one who is two ranks or more below
yours, but you can’t just pick one of similar rank.”
I frowned I suppose. She kissed me lightly on the lips and spoke more gently.
“Thank you for the offer. It’s nice to be asked or invited, rather than being forced
under pain of … Go and have a shower and I’ll take you around the City some
more.”
I wouldn’t ordinarily have bothered, but she was back in charge, so I dutifully
splashed a bit of water over myself. I must admit I cut the wash cycle short by
hitting the program advance. Too much washing wasn’t good for you.
There was a still a fair amount of the afternoon to go when we left the
apartment. We had no sooner left the apartment when she stopped. “Ok. Your turn
to lead. Take me to the square.”
I had just come from the square, so that shouldn’t be a big deal. I started off
confidently, but as I progressed I was getting less certain. She was not holding my
arm now; that might have given me a clue. She was walking just slightly behind
me. I only took one wrong turn, which she immediately corrected, and we were
back in the square. Where I would have ended up after that wrong turn is
anybody’s guess. One mistake could make a huge difference.
She marched me to the centre of the square. “Which direction is your apartment
in, if you could point directly at it?”
I had no idea really, so I just guessed and pointed in the direction we had entered
the square. She corrected me immediately. “No, it’s that way.”
She was pointing at right-angles to the direction I had pointed in. “Ok. Which
direction is the up-town bulkhead in, if you were pointing directly at it?”
This one seemed easier and in fact I was only wrong by half the previous angle.
“That’s good. Now take me there.”
I knew the exit from the square for this because we had come back that way
today. Once out of the square I was uncertain at the first intersection. Nevertheless
she patiently corrected me on each wrong turn and we were soon in sight of it. She
led me past the bulkhead so that the guards didn’t get suspicious of us approaching
them then turning back.
It was like this for the rest of the afternoon and by the time I led her back to my
apartment, I knew that I had put in a full day. She was showing no sign of
weakness now. I scanned my card through the lock and went to go in, but she
stayed put. “I had better be getting back to my apartment.”
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Ordinarily I would have taken this as a sign that she had had enough of me for
today and let her go. Now was slightly different. Yes I liked her company and
wanted her to stay, but now I knew she ought to stay, or she wouldn’t get to eat.
This thought won out over any other consideration. ‘Who said you could go? It’s
your turn to cook.’
She seemed a little relieved. I had made the decision for her; she was not being
guilty of scrounging a free meal. Hell, I had been living off her charity this last
week, albeit unknowingly. Now she could live off my charity unknowingly.
This turned out to be a satisfactory arrangement. So much so that we lived this way
for three weeks. We never actually went to any more paying entertainment during
this time. I wanted her Balance to get back to a healthy level. Sure enough, I
checked it after a couple of weeks, in the same covert manner as before, and it was
getting up to a much more acceptable level. My own Balance was of course getting
very impressive, but not yet demanding to be spent.
It was the middle of the afternoon of the last working day before the week-end
when the alarm sounded. “Attention. Attention. Non-duty personnel return to
your living quarters. Prepare for transition.”
Huh? What was this all about? The epad started making noises and when I
picked it up, it had instructions on it. ‘Stop whatever you are doing immediately
and return to your quarters.’
I put my tools back in the carryall and inspected the conduit I had been working
on. The cover was off, exposing the bare conductors. This was not a safe way to
leave it and yet the epad was quite insistent that I leave now. I left the open conduit
as it was and followed the epad’s directions. After all, I was the worker and it was
in charge. If it wanted me to leave the conductors exposed, then that wasn’t my
problem.
I was quite a long way away from my quarters and the epad wasn’t satisfied with
my progress. It was beeping at me insistently and when I checked the display it just
said in larger than normal letters, ‘HURRY’.
I started jogging along the corridors and therefore making better time. This
seemed to satisfy the epad and I was soon at my apartment. Filicia was waiting for
me outside. I really ought to find out how to get her a key. She motioned for me to
hurry as well.
We both slipped inside quickly and she rushed around the apartment. Looking at
things. “Quickly, everything that is not tied down needs to be put away in a
cupboard.” I was just standing there panting, trying to catch my breath. She was
not amused. “MOVE!”
I moved. She already had several sections of the wall opened. I wasn’t even
sure how she had opened them. Clearly I had not been doing my homework on the
facilities in the apartment. I helped her to gather up the bits and pieces that were
lying around the kitchen and shovel them unceremoniously into the cupboards.
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There was not much stuff to put away and it was soon done. She checked the Vid
room and that was fine. She practically dragged me into the bedroom. “Strip!”
What? It was the middle of the afternoon. It was not like she was going short of
love making. What was she up to? It was very unlike her to be in such a rush. I
started undressing at a leisurely pace and noted that she had already stripped-off
completely and was pushing her clothes into a small compartment in the wall. As I
was discarding bits of clothing, she was gathering them up and plunging them into
yet another compartment. I felt pretty self-conscious as she was looking right at me
as I removed my last garment. Sure we had seen each other naked, but not to the
extent of zooming in on the genitals and staring at them like a predator waiting to
pounce.
She ripped the undergarment from my hands and stuffed it into the compartment,
clicking it shut in one rapid movement. I hadn’t moved. She turned and saw me
staring at her naked form. I had never seen her like this. She was being very abrupt
and uncommunicative. I tried to get a word in. ‘What’s happening?’
She wasn’t having any of it. She pushed me in the direction of the bed. “On the
bed, quickly.” I obliged. What else could I do? I lay flat on my back, staring up at
the ceiling, my manhood throbbing between my legs. She approached on an
intercept course, but veered off at the last moment and flipped open a small panel
in the wall. Out popped a wrist cuff, attached to a springy cord. She pulled on the
cord and clipped the cuff around my right wrist. She then went to the end of the
bed and flipped open another panel. This time the cuff was attached to my right
ankle. I wondered why she hadn’t played this game before, if this is what she liked.
She flipped open another panel and put a cuff on her right ankle, then scrambled
up onto the bed. She had one more cuff to position and she fitted it to her right
wrist. The springy cords were not very strong and I didn’t know the rules of this
game. She just lay there, a bit breathless herself from all the rushing around she
had been doing. Ok, she wanted sex. I kind of worked that out all by myself. I was
not about to disappoint her. I started to roll myself over in her direction and
realised that the way the springy cords were positioned I was actually being pulled
into being on top of her. I was beginning to see the point of this game. My hand
snaked across her midsection and she spoke. “Not yet. Wait just a bit longer.”
Aghh! What was this? I was all fired up and ready to go. She had been hurrying
me along and now I had to wait. Aghh! Moments later the alarm sounded again.
“Weight reduction commencing.”
It was not at all clear where the sound was coming from. It seemed to come from
everywhere. And what was all this weight reduction stuff? Something changed and
sure enough my arms and legs felt lighter. What was going on? There it was again,
lighter still. I felt strange, a bit light headed. I was getting lighter every time it
shifted. This was a bit unnerving. ‘What’s happening Filicia?’
She grabbed me, as I had moved too rapidly and now I was lifting up from the
bed. “Don’t worry. This is all normal. Just hold onto me.”
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The final shift occurred and we were both beginning to float away from the bed.
The initial feeling that I was falling seemed to get a bit worse if anything, but I had
Filicia to hold onto and we were not far apart by now. She smiled as she pulled us
a bit closer together.
“I’ll tell you what’s happening - after.”
She had linked her legs around mine and was guiding me in. The stiffness of my
weapon had diminished as the weight was reduced, but it was now approaching a
workable strength. She grabbed hold of my hips with her bound hand and used her
free hand to guide me in. It didn’t take much effort to enter this way. Once I was
in, she pulled my chest close to her breasts and we kissed passionately. I found that
I couldn’t thrust as I wanted, since she was gripping me with her internal muscles
and as I moved my hips, hers just moved with them. I concentrated on her breasts,
neck and shoulders, whilst still wondering how to make this work.
When she was satisfied with the job I had done on her breasts, she used her free
hand to position my bound hand under her armpit. She then positioned my free
hand on the side of her hips. She positioned her hands in a similar fashion and it
became evident that if we worked in synchronism, the hands on the hips could
make our bodies move together and apart as desired.
We started off slowly and working together we built up the speed. This was the
most beautiful way to make love that I could imagine. Only when we were in
perfect harmony, each working with the other, could we achieve mutual
satisfaction. There was no passive partner in this; it was either both involved or
nothing. Our thrusting was getting faster and deeper until I over did it. Too much
reverse thrust and we disconnected. Our hips parted and the hands there lost grip,
but fortunately the link at the shoulders held. It was only a few groping moments
before the worm was back in the hole and we started up again, more cautiously.
Somehow the rhythmic thrusting on the hips made us even more connected than
usual and when we came together the sensation was unlike anything I had
experienced before. Stronger, more intense, more satisfying.
I was spent and so was she and I made a motion to uncouple our union, but she
resisted. “Leave it there. We wouldn’t want any fluid floating about in here would
we?”
I took the point and we just stayed coupled. I held her and she held me. The
announcement seemed distant somehow.
“Transition in nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”
After ‘one’ there was a very noticeable shift in something. My whole body felt
as if it were ripped apart and put back together in a slightly different position. This
was not a nice sensation, but it was minimised because I was still enjoying the
aftermath of an incredible sexual adventure.
A few moments later the announcer came back on the system.
“Weight increase beginning.”
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Sure enough the shifts came and the weight increased with each shift. We settled
gently down onto the bed and uncoupled as the weight came back on. We both lay
on our backs staring up at the ceiling. There was nothing to look at there, but we
looked anyway. Filicia started speaking quietly.
“I was with a Founder who was trying to impress me. He wasn’t as horrible as
the others, but I still didn’t like him. He explained it all to me. You know that we
enter a star system and raid the planets for the minerals and materials that we need.
Well, when we move from system to system, it’s officially called a hyper-spatial
transition, but it is often simply called a jump. We just slip through space from one
point to another. We travel vast distances this way and it’s the only way to travel
from one star system to another. There are two problems. One, we can’t be near
any planets or moons or anything; they distort space and the transition becomes
very dangerous. Two, we can’t have the artificial gravity on when we transition;
that would also be dangerous. So, every time we leave a star system, we get a
weightless period like the one we just experienced. Did you like it?”
Did I like it? She had to be kidding. I rolled over onto my side and put my hand
around her waist. ‘Yes, it was ok.’
She sat up with a start. “Ok?”
She glared at me and I grinned impishly. She unhooked one wrist from its
springy cuff, letting the cuff fly loose as she picked up the pillow and started
hitting me in the face with it. I surrendered. ‘Ok, ok, I admit it. That was the best
I’ve ever had. It was amazing.’
She eased off her attack and seemed placated. “That’s better. Now we had better
get dressed, because we’ll be expected back at work in a few minutes.”
She unhooked herself from the remaining springy cuffs and, following her lead,
I did the same. She slipped her clothes back on with a practised speed and was by
the door before I had even retrieved my clothes. She paused at the doorway. “I’ll
see you tonight, lover.”
Without waiting for a response she was gone and I was left to fumble with my
uniform, and to figure out which storage bin now held my toolkit and epad. Now I
knew what the Master Technician had been going on about this morning. He had
said to be prepared for transition in the afternoon. I just had not felt inclined to ask
him and I had forgotten about it by lunch time or I would have asked J’an. Oh well,
no harm done. Oops, what about that conduit panel? I gathered my stuff together
and headed back out to the job.
The epad was back into work mode and was in fact directing me back to the site
to complete the repair. The trip back to the open conduit seemed to take a very
short time, but then I was still under the influence, so to speak. The cover plate was
not where I left it, but then again it wasn’t very far away either. It was simply a
matter of inspecting the joint in the bus bar and closing up the conduit. No
problem; job done.
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8 Generators
It was the week-end again. I wondered what Filicia would have in store for me
today. I prepared myself with a shower and had just started on breakfast when the
door chime sounded. Since nobody else came here, it was bound to be Filicia. I left
an unfinished bowl of Sunrise Surprise on the table and let her in. “Haven’t you
finished breakfast yet. Come along, we are burning holiday time.”
I directed her into the kitchen. ‘I hate eating alone. Why don’t you have some of
this breakfast stuff; it’s very good.’
She looked at it longingly as she sat down, then hastily looked away. “No
thanks, I wouldn’t want to get used to that stuff. It’s too expensive.”
Now it was my turn to look at her through slitty eyes. ‘Hey, you are not looking
as healthy as you did when I first met you. I’m not convinced that you are eating
regularly. If I see you eat here then I can be sure that you are at least getting some
food.’
She stood in a rush, pushing the chair back violently. “What am I, a child that
you have to look after? I’m a fully grown woman and I can look after myself. I
don’t need you to tell me what to do. Who do you think you are, my mother? Or do
you think you have to buy me with favours?”
I left my breakfast bowl again and went to her. She had tears forming in her eyes
and she tried to hammer me on the shoulders and chest with balled up fists. Not an
effective attack, but then it wasn’t meant that way. I just ignored this and grabbed
her and held her tight to me. ‘I’m not trying to be your mother; I’m trying to be
your husband. If I could have you living with me I would. Failing that I want you
as close to me as possible, as much as possible. I love you, I need you and I want
you.’
Her struggling ceased as soon as I grabbed her, to be replaced by sniffling then
crying. She managed to get out a few words between the tears. “I love you too.”
I held her until she quietened down, then released my grip so that I could look at
her. ‘Would you like some breakfast?’
She didn’t answer, but nodded her head affirmatively. I guided her to the same
chair she had been sitting on before, and dug out another bowl and another packet
of Sunrise Surprise from the cupboard. It was actually no effort to eat from a bowl,
rather than from the packet. The cleaning of the plates and cutlery was automatic
and it just seemed to be a higher quality of life to be eating off of a plate or from a
bowl, rather than eating from a packet.
She sat in front of the bowl, just looking at it, as I returned to my seat on the
opposite site of the table. As soon as I re-started on mine, she had a taste of hers.
That was all it took. One faintest taste of it, then she was off. She polished off the
whole bowl-full before I had completed the last half of mine. Mind you, mine now
felt pretty horrible because it had been left standing in the bowl too long. The taste
was unaffected, but the texture was reduced to mush. I didn’t let on about this of
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course. The implied criticism, that she had ruined my breakfast, would not really
have been that helpful to the situation!
As soon as I finished and left the bowl on the table, she whisked it off and into
the cleaning chute, along with her own. “Right then. Now are you ready?”
She seemed more cheery now. I stood up, as she was already standing, having
put the bowls into the chute. ‘Yes, I’m ready.’
I slipped my Balance card into my pocket and headed for the door in her wake.
She waited for me, just outside the apartment. “Let’s see how you are doing under
my training. I want you to take me to the front port-side of the ship, by the most
direct route.”
I had to think about this. ‘Ok. If we go to the square then up-town, we can get to
the front quite quickly.’
She shook her head sadly. “No. If we go up-town then we can’t get to the front
of the ship. The front means we have to be in the White Zone. Since there is only
one main bulkhead per Zone we need to go into Zone 5 first. Take me there.”
I led the way to the White Zone. This was fairly straightforward at least. I had
been paying attention to what she had said. ‘You said “only one main bulkhead per
level”; I take it this means there are others.’
She nodded without breaking stride, although talking at a much reduced volume.
“Founders never use the main bulkheads if they can help it. There are all sorts of
secret routes and I certainly don’t know them all. The ones I have seen are built
into apartments, through closets, inside showers, that sort of thing. These guys are
really tricky.”
I was learning all the time. This was an incredible teacher. ‘You said “guys”.
Aren’t there any woman Founders?’
This time she hesitated in her marching and looked around before continuing.
“Keep your voice down. There are a few woman Founders, I think, but I’ve never
seen one. Something about the life-extension bio-chemistry working better on men
than on woman. Perhaps if there were more women then the Founders wouldn’t be
so excessive, so self-indulgent.”
We arrived at the bulkhead and after we had passed through and re-entered her
‘office’ she took charge again. She also stepped up the pace. I couldn’t understand
why we needed to rush so much on a week-end and she didn’t seem in the mood to
explain. She didn’t stop her tour though. “This is the outer corridor on the port side
of the ship.”
Sure enough the number of doors on the left side of the corridor had reduced to
zero some time ago and now there were none on the right either. Also the corridor
was long and straight. This would be an easy place to know, when you got there at
least. Getting there was something else of course.
We headed down the corridor at a high speed and doors started appearing on the
right. We had obviously passed the Dome. More twisting and turning and we came
to a dead-end. A genuine dead-end this time. There were no panels, no hidden
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doors, no poor lights. Clearly this is what I was meant to think. Filicia looked at me
secretively. “Watch very carefully.”
She kicked the corner of the wall to the left side of the blind corridor end. There
was no change noticeable. Nothing clicked, nothing moved. She then counted out
loud, probably for my benefit. “Nine-Eight-Seven-Six-Five-Four-Three-Two-One-
ugh”
She had kicked it again, a bit harder, and the door opened. The door opened and
yet there had not been a door there! The whole blind face of the wall moved aside
to reveal a ladder heading downwards! This time she went first. I followed as soon
as possible and I noticed that the door closed behind me, as soon as I was on the
ladder. The lights also came on down below as we descended.
We alighted from the ladder to be confronted by a vast space with a low ceiling,
filled with conduits, housings, and weird but powerful looking objects. I could not
see very far because the lights only came on in the area near to us, but I had the
sense that the space extended quite a distance. Large posts sprung up from the hull
at regular intervals to support the floor above and the there was a noticeable
curvature to the floor beneath my feet.
I just stood at the base of the ladder, staring in awe and wonder. Whatever this
area was, it was important. There were no obvious pipes or conduits coming into
this area from above. Waste liquids from sinks and drains did not run down nice
gentle sloping pipes into progressively larger pipes. Nothing relied on gravity. All
fluids moved under positive pressure from pumps. I knew because I had already
changed quite a few. They pumped liquids up, not down. The roof space was
where all the ducts, pipes and cables ran. Down here did not exist as far as the
living space of the City was concerned.
There were two different sets of systems here. This was clear because of the
different connections between them. The larger sets of units were joined by
light-weight electrical cables, and pipes as wide as my two feet placed end to end.
Filicia was already clambering over them and I was apparently expected to follow.
As I hadn’t started moving yet, she paused. “These big ones are the gravity field
generators. They run the whole length of the ship and make the place feel like a
planet, rather than a space ship. They don’t take much power to run, so they don’t
need heavy power feeds. Those other ones are rather different.”
She could say that again. The gravity field generators were like big sawn-off
drums. Their diameter was at least as large as my height, but they only came up to
my knees in height. They interconnected in a regular square grid, the pipes joining
them also being about as long as my height. The other units were square in section
and placed in the gaps between the gravity field generators, but only in every third
position. There were therefore considerably fewer of these, but the power cables
running to them were massive. These blocky units reached up to waist height, so
they did restrict the view somewhat.
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I started moving now and Filicia continued to talk as we made our way across
the assault course formed by these two powerful systems. “The tall ones are the
hyper-spatial field generators; they allow us to transition between star systems.
They take enormous power to operate, but it’s not too bad because they are only
activated for a few minutes every time we jump to a new star system. Notice that
they are more concentrated near the outside of the hull. They have to rip a hole in
space, allowing the whole ship to slide through the fabric of the space-time
continuum and arrive at our destination. If two of these generators were to fail at
the same time, and they happened to be next to each other, then that part of the hull
would just cease to exist.”
She was having trouble talking and climbing over the pipe-work. She was
getting a bit out of breath. I was also getting out of breath, but fortunately I was
able to listen rather than talk. “The gravity field generators have a lot of parallel
redundancy, though. If one unit fails the ones around it boost their output
automatically to compensate. When any of these units fail a light comes on at the
top to show you which one has failed.”
“When they get switched off they don’t always come back on-line either. These
things aren’t linked up with the computer like other systems are; they are all
adjusted manually. Since only Founders are allowed down here, one of them comes
to inspect the generators every so often, and always after a transition. That’s why
we have to be quick. …Oh look; this unit has failed. Do you see the light on top?”
Unconsciously I looked around in case a Founder was here. Having done so I
immediately felt stupid. Filicia spotted me doing this and laughed.
“If anyone comes down here you’ll see the lights come on where they are. Don’t
worry about it though. The Founders don’t start work early. Why should they?
They live on the same day/night schedule as everyone else, but they don’t work
nearly as hard or as long. Often they only work an hour a day, usually after lunch.”
We were approaching a wall; different from normal walls in both texture and
colour. There was a ladder attached to the wall and huge power cables just dangled
against the wall. It wasn’t clear if they were coming into this area or going out
from this area. Filicia was waiting at the foot of the ladder. It looked as if I was
going first. She evidently had definite policy on this. If there was any going-up of
ladders to be done then I went first, and if it was going down ladders then she went
first. No fun at all!
Now that I was closer to the wall, I noticed that the ladder was heading for an
opening in the wall just below the ceiling height. Also the ladder, instead of being
bolted to the wall, seemed to be stuck on. The wall near the ladder was covered in
a thin plastic film, which actually looked very similar to the floor covering.
I was about to mount the ladder when Filicia stopped me.
“Look at this wall. It’s made of Armalloy. In fact this is the end piece of the hull.
Nothing gets through this stuff, which is why the ladder is stuck on and not bolted
on. And this plastic film is to stop you accidentally touching the Armalloy. The
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thermal conductivity of Armalloy is so great that if you put your hand on it, you
would be trying to heat up the whole hull at once. Your hand would be frozen to
the wall. Fortunately this plastic is as good an insulator as Armalloy is a conductor.
Otherwise we would never be able to walk on this outer hull wall.”
She motioned for me to go up the ladder and I did. It was tricky at the top
because I had to climb over the thickness of the wall and mount the ladder the
other side. The wall was only as wide as the span of my hand, but given that this
was Armalloy, that was plenty thick enough.
The heavy power cables were draped over the divide and fell down to the other
side. There was no evidence of a power source here, so I guess it had to be more
towards the middle of the ship or perhaps at the other end. It didn’t take long to get
down the other side and I had a chance now to have a look at one of the gravity
field generators. All the equipment here was more spread out. In fact the gravity
field generators were getting noticeably less frequent as I looked forward. The
hyper-spatial field generators were clustered around the edge of the hull mostly,
with just a few nearer the middle.
Filicia came up behind me. Aghh! I had missed my chance. It’s funny how the
male mind works, but looking up a dress was just something that seemed so natural
-- if you could get away with it, that is.
The floor here was not the same as on the other side. This whole forward section
was just a plug of Duralloy popped into the Armalloy hull and held there by
pressure and adhesive.
Filicia took the lead again and led me forward to the port side of the front of the
ship. There was an inspection window through the hull. Not a small window you
understand. My arm could only just reach from one side of this round window to
the other side. Filicia seemed to know an awful lot about this place.
“This window is double re-enforced Armaplex. The same stuff the Founder’s
Dome is made of. But these can still get broken if the ship gets attacked, so this
great box assembly in front of the window has a Duralloy shutter in it. If the power
fails or if the pressure in here drops, the shutter moves in front of the window
automatically and the pressure helps to seal the shutter over the hole.”
I wasn’t looking at the shutter mechanism, I was looking out into space. It had
been a while since I had been on the surface of the hull, but it still fascinated me. I
could see the stars and it gave a perspective to things; I was small and insignificant
compared to the universe. If my life were to be snuffed out like a candle, then the
rest of the universe would never even notice. Boy, that was a depressing thought.
Filicia was there to eliminate such maunderings. “We should be near a star system
and heading for it. If you look forward you should see a sun and planets orbiting it.
We are still a long way out.”
I looked forward and saw the sun. It was very obvious, being so much bigger
and brighter than the stars. The only reason I hadn’t seen it earlier, is that I had to
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have my head quite close to the wall in order to get a shallow enough angle to look
forward.
The planets were not visible though. Well maybe they were, but I couldn’t be
sure if they were planets or stars. You would have to look at them for some time to
spot the movement.
We were being totally quiet, so the noise seemed very loud and echoing,
although in reality it was probably not very loud at all. Filicia went very alert. We
turned and could see a faint glow over the top of the Armalloy barrier we had
climbed over. “Damn. There must be a Founder working on that faulty gravity field
generator. He’s up early. Probably couldn’t sleep or something. I’ve never known a
Founder to be so keen.”
She grabbed me by the hand and pulled me unceremoniously toward the front of
the ship. She whispered as we climbed over the interconnecting pipes and cables.
“We have to hide until he is gone. We have to stay down and still for a short time
so that the sensors will forget we are here and turn the lights off. We don’t want
him to see the lights. There probably aren’t many sensors near the front anyway, so
we may not have to stay too still.”
Without further chatter we went around to the front of the front-most
hyper-spatial field generator. It was certainly big enough to hide us. We sat down
close to each other and sat perfectly still. It was several moments before the lights
went out and then it got dark; very, very dark. Fortunately I was not alone. I could
hear her breathing next to me and I remembered the times my brothers and I had
played at burying each other alive. This was not unlike that really. We had played
that game all day, so this was not going to be a problem.
It’s just a pity that I was sitting upright; it put a lot of discomfort on certain
particular areas. It was too late now. I didn’t want to be the one who moved to get
more comfortable and therefore alerted the Founder to our presence. If there was
sitting still to be done then I could do it, regardless of the discomfort, for as long as
it took, … I hoped.
There was no way to record the passage of time, just like when being buried
alive. The only thing to do was to stick with it for as long as you could and that
was all you could do. Filicia was in charge. When she thought it was safe to move,
we would.
She waited a long time by my reckoning. The first I knew, her hand was snaking
across my chest. The lights didn’t come on. Damn. We had been stationary for so
long and it hadn’t been necessary. She slid herself over me and we kissed. It wasn’t
very comfortable in that position, but then who’s going to argue about something
like that. Our hands went on automatic as we kissed, but touching her breasts and
kissing her naturally inflamed my desire. Now what? There was no way we could
make-out down here with a Founder wandering around.
She evidently had a plan as she ceased kissing me and moved herself further
down my body. What was she up to? She released the beast from its cage and it
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stood to attention. It was then engulfed by her mouth. The shock was sudden. What
was this game? I was taken aback because I didn’t know what was happening. It
was out of my control. I was worried. All the fight was knocked out of the beast by
my concern.
Sensing its weakness, she returned to the safe ground of my mouth and
positively placed my hands on her breasts. The beast returned to its former glory
and her spare hand sensed the fact. She returned to the beast and this time it knew
what to expect. Her hot lips flowed around it and nourished it.
I didn’t feel this was quite right somehow. She was not getting any. I would not
have felt comfortable with my face down there, but I thought my hand might do
something. I moistened my fingers by licking them and they sought sanctuary
within her enclave. I concentrated on getting my motions to coincide with hers. It
was difficult to concentrate. Oh to hell with keeping the motions together. I was
getting there and she wasn’t. I went for more speed and variety in my motions.
That was better. It slowed her down a bit. She was having difficulty breathing and
… and … doing stuff with her mouth. It pleased me that I felt her come first and
when she had, I felt free to release my own. Not an impressive spurt, but not a
disappointment either. I was grateful that she didn’t stop at the first squirt, but
completed the action and got the last couple as well. I would have hated for her to
do half a job on me.
The lights still hadn’t come on and we were able to rest where we were, which
was an agreeable respite. I could use the rest. Although there was no breeze there,
the worm felt a bit self-conscious lying where it was, so I slipped it back inside my
warm clothing. Just in time as it turns out, because she stood and the lights came
on. She acted as if nothing had happened. “It should be safe to go now. I can’t see
a light in the other section from here.”
I stood up as well and followed her back to the wall. ‘Why do the Founders
come in here from Zone 5. Surely it would be more secure for them to go in from
Zone 2 and not have an entrance in Zone 5 at all.’
She hesitated in climbing over the next pipe. “It would be more secure, yes; but
can you imagine going half the length of the ship climbing over this lot? It’s bad
enough over this short distance, but over half the length of the ship it would be
impossible. Especially if you are a gross slug-like Founder.”
The picture of a Founder struggling over these pipes was amusing, there’s no
denying that. We soon reached the wall and true to form, I went up the ladder first.
I wasn’t all that steady and she spotted this. “I think I am going to have to go a bit
easier on you. You seem a bit weak.”
I laughed it off, but it was true. I could use a day off every now and then, but it
was difficult to leave her alone when she was there and eager all the time. It was an
uneventful ascent back into the City. In fact the next people we saw were the
guards on the bulkhead leading back to Zone 4.
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When we arrived back at my apartment it was late afternoon. Seeing the clock
on the wall caused my hunger to register more heavily. I both needed and wanted
food then and there. ‘Let’s eat now and then go shopping. I’m starving.’
She nodded acceptance of this and just prepared something without further
conversation. I just sort of slumped into a chair in a somewhat less than dignified
posture.
Not a lot else happened that day. We ate early, went shopping for more food and
I got an early night. Things settled down to a bit more of a routine after this. Every
now and then she would gracefully decline sexual activity. Looking back on it, I
am convinced that this was for me and not for her. She seemed to have a much
larger capacity for sex than me, but she moderated it so I wasn’t totally shattered
by the experience.
As the days passed into weeks, I lived for the time I spent with Filicia. The days
were just a steady succession of changing broken parts, but I had the evenings to
look forward to. And then there were the weekends.
As a break from the forced marches through the City, on this particular week-
-end she said she had something special planned. What this was going to be she
wouldn’t say and I had learned better than to try to wheedle it out of her. It was as
if she were a secret agent and would not tell even if you tortured her. I had no
chance of getting anything out of her when she adopted this frame of mind.
She led the way, right after breakfast. She did not even give me instruction to
follow, she just set off down the corridor with me in tow. We went up-town by the
shortest route that I knew of and proceeded further into the corridors than I had
ever been. Then she just stopped. “Where do you suppose our food comes from?”
‘Well I get mine from the shop.’
“Yes, but where does the food in the packets actually come from?”
‘Well, I’ve heard you mention that lots of the Yellows work in the food factory. I
suppose that the food comes from the food factory.’
“Of course it does. But the food factory doesn’t make the food, it just processes
it then packs it. Where did food come from on your world?”
‘Well we grew it or raised animals and ate them. All very primitive I suppose.’
She started walking again at a much reduced pace. “Well I suppose you could
synthesise food directly from its constituents, but that would be very difficult and
the food wouldn’t have much by way of texture and flavour. This place is like
anywhere else; food is grown and animals are raised. The animals don’t know that
they are in space because of the artificial gravity.”
‘This City would have to be huge to support the population and it isn’t that big.
We have walked from one end to the other and it doesn’t take that long. Even my
farm back home was bigger than this City and it only grew enough to support my
wife and family-to-be.’
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“Ah, but this is Founder-farming, which doesn’t use soil, and they have special
plants which grow from floor to ceiling in purpose-built frames. They produce
crops on an accelerated life cycle under artificial lights. How many harvests did
you have a year?”
‘Well that’s a silly question. It shows how much farming you have done. You
only get one harvest a year. The different crops come in at different times, but each
field only produces one harvest each year at harvest time.’
“Well it so happens that I do know something about farming, because I worked
as a crop harvester here for a while. The Founders have done something to the
plants. They look like the normal plants that you would grow, but they grow
twenty times faster. They have been engineered to live fast. It’s as if they have had
their life clocks speeded up. Timers turn the lights on for about an hour and off for
about half an hour. The plants take this cycle as day and night and grow faster. It
only works with these special crops of course.”
‘That would be something to see.’
A twinkle appeared in her eye. “What’s it worth?”
‘I don’t know. What did you have in mind?’
“I don’t know. But I am going to have to make you earn it!”
And she laughed. That was the end of that conversation. She led me past the
entrance to the food factory, pointing it out as we passed by.
‘Aren’t we going in?’
“We can’t get in there. You need to work there to get in.”
‘That’s a pity.’
“Oh, don’t worry. You will get to see it. We just won’t be going in.”
There she was being cryptic again. I never could get a straight answer out of her
when she was in this sort of mood. I would just have to follow along and wait for
my surprise. Although it had to be said that they were always worth waiting for.
We entered another dead-end corridor. It was only ten feet long, well lighted and
there was clearly nothing there. There was a large sign hanging of the wall.
“THIS IS A SECURITY CORRIDOR TO TRAP NON-RESIDENTS, WHO
THEREFORE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ THIS SIGN. THIS CORRIDOR
WILL BE SEALED IN A FEW SECONDS. ESCAPE BEFORE THE POISON
GAS ENTERS.”
We were standing right next to the sign and a panel started to slide across the
opening to the corridor, blocking us in. I tried to move towards the sliding panel,
but Filicia put her hand across my chest and just smiled.
She must surely have felt my heart racing. The panel was closing and we were
about to be killed. Ever muscle in my body had gone onto battle alert and I was
ready to dive through the gap, fight off the guards, carry Filicia to safety. And yet
she was calmly standing there and smiling. I had to disengage my engines and re-
engage my brain. The door was sliding shut too slowly. If this were a trap then the
trapped people would escape. So it wasn’t a trap. If it wasn’t a trap, then what was
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it? I looked at Filicia more carefully. She was expecting this and she wasn’t afraid.
Ah! This was a another Founder trick. And I would have fallen for it again.
As soon as the door closed, Filicia approached the end of the corridor wall and
gave it a kick, paused and kicked again. A panel opened in the ceiling, allowing a
ladder to extend itself down to the floor; a light then appeared in the roof space
above. Access to the roof space, another mystery.
True to form, her hand invited me to climb the ladder first. This I did with no
great enthusiasm, as I never knew what sort of surprise was in store for me next. I
had to be on full alert constantly on these trips. My head arrived at ceiling height
and I could now see into the roof space. There were pipes and wires and various
assorted box-like structures scattered around. It looked safe enough and there
seemed to be no place for a troop of guards to hide.
I emerged into this new space and looked around aimlessly. Filicia was hot on
my heels and when she arrived in the roof space, the first thing she did was to kick
a lever on the floor; a lever I had not even noticed. The ladder retracted and the
opening in the floor closed up.
The areas where you were supposed to walk were marked out by coloration of
the floor. This reduced the chance of tripping over a stray pipe or cable. Pipes and
cables went under protective sheaths as they crossed the walkways so you didn’t
trip over them.
We walked quite a distance along the walkways, lights following us as we
walked. This was a curious sensation because the lights came on quickly but went
off slowly, allowing us to trace our route by the path of the lights that remained on.
I still don’t know how she was navigating; all the walkways looked the same to
me. Nevertheless she occasionally turned this way and that before leaving the path
altogether.
She turned to me and put her fingers to her lips, indicating quiet. She moved the
last few paces very quietly, taking care to place her feet as silently as possible: I
followed suit. Now she dismantled something on the ceiling. It was not clear what
its function was supposed to have been, but it was clear that now we could peek
through the ceiling (or the floor, depending on how you looked at it).
There were row upon row of large quadrupeds in stalls. They could hardly move
and were just standing there eating. All of them were eating. They came in all
various shapes and colours. The markings and features of these animals was
unfamiliar to me, but to any farmer they would have appeared as meat animals,
being fattened up for food.
I couldn’t see how they could get in and out. They were just packed in,
practically head to tail in their own little caged stalls. There was no gate and no
place for them to go even if there was a gate. As I watched, a mechanical device
running on rails in the ceiling passed by. Every now and then it would stop at a
stall and fill the containers with water, food or both.
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Well that explained part of the story, but how did the animals get out? This was
explained moments later when a bigger device, again running on tracks on the
ceiling, moved into view. It headed for a particularly fat looking Trancor. As the
device moved into position above the stall, the whole body of the device lowered
itself on long cables. Clamps attached to the stall’s top rails and the pair moved off
together.
That explained the rest of the story. A fully automated food program. I had seen
enough and I wasn’t very happy with what I saw. I shouldn’t have been surprised I
suppose, given the way the Founders treated us; how else would they treat
animals?
I must have been showing my feelings because Filicia quickly closed up the
opening and led me further along the walkways. After we had travelled a short
distance she stopped. “I’m sorry. I thought you would be interested in where our
food came from. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
‘It’s alright, I’m not terribly upset. I guess I just feel sorry for the animals,
that’s all. I don’t like to see animals treated badly, even when they are being kept
solely for food. I think that they feel things, just like we do, and it’s wrong to make
them suffer needlessly.’
“Well a lot of people feel that way too. I guess when it comes down to it, it costs
more to look after the animals well and people decide that they can’t afford to do it
that way.”
‘Hmmh.’
“Well, there is something nicer to see further along.”
‘Ok.’
She started off again and I followed along. It wasn’t long before she headed off
the walkway again and found a feature on the floor to dismantle. I never did find
out what these were exactly. This time the view was altogether different.
This was a room and there were green plants that I couldn’t identify growing on
frames from floor to ceiling. Their roots went into long narrow containers on the
floor, each running as far as I could see in both directions. Long parallel channels
sprouting this organic produce. What ever it was, there was certainly a lot of it.
Suddenly the light went out and I could only see by the light coming in from
where I was. I looked up at Filicia.
‘Looks like we arrived just in time for night fall.’
She was galvanised into action and hastily replaced the cover.
“The light coming through that aperture would be very easy to see when the
lights went off. I don’t suppose that there would be anybody there to see it, but I
don’t want to take any unnecessary chances. Let’s move on.”
She wasn’t waiting for an answer or acknowledgement to this; it was just a
statement of intent. She moved off again and it seemed to me that she had picked
up the pace. Also, it seemed that we were heading back the way that we had come,
but not quite. Perhaps we were circling back to the exit.
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She stopped again and repeated the aperture opening. This time the view was of
a large open field. The viewing angle was quite restrictive, so it was difficult to
estimate how large the field was, but it was large enough. There was a large
expanse of green floor-covering, as we had seen in the woods, but now there were
no trees.
I heard it before I saw it; a Founder mounted on a Trancor. This was a comic
sight. The Founder was hanging onto the saddle on the Trancor for dear life and
the Trancor was charging down the field as if being chased by a Icthor Devil.
The Icthor Devil was a semi-mythical creature that was native on my
Homeworld and the fact that I was still alive meant that one had never seen me.
Since we were children we were told not to go out at night or the Icthor Devil
would get us. And we all thought it was a story for children. When we were no
longer children the facts presented themselves. In the areas where there were large
herds of animals there were also Icthor Devils. Not very many, as civilisation
required them to be hunted mercilessly given that they were such a menace. It was
said that if one saw you on your own then you would have to kill it or it would kill
and eat you.
There was no standing still so it wouldn’t notice you. There was no outrunning
it; it could run more than twice as fast as a man. It could climb trees better than
most men. If it saw you then it was hunting and you were history, unless you were
a skilled hunter and could kill it.
The reason why they still existed is because they were so smart. They hunted on
their own and never attacked groups of people. They would get somebody out on a
plain on their own and run them down. This was an excellent way of scaring
children into obedience; hell, it scared me just thinking of it!
Anyway, back down on the field, fat-boy the Founder had fallen off the Trancor
and bounced satisfactorily. The green stuff was evidently pleasantly soft and the
Founder had lots of blubbery padding as well. He was brushing himself down and
picking himself up when a Yellow came puffing and panting along to help.
The Founder was on his feet and shouting before the Yellow arrived. “You get
that animal and you start cutting little bits off of it until it’s dead. You make sure
that damn animal suffers for treating me this way, do you understand!”
The Founder had gone red in the face and was shouting loudly during this
outburst. No argument was expected or would be tolerated at this point. ‘Yes sir,
right away sir.’
The two of them then walked out of my field of view. It was like a play staged
just for me; I was sickened. Filicia replaced the cover very quietly and I whispered
into her ear. ‘I’d like to go home now. I’ve had enough excitement for one day.’
She just nodded and took my hand. This had been her treat for me and it had all
gone horribly wrong. That wasn’t her fault, but she felt the guilt nonetheless. She
walked me back to the exit and used a spy hole to check that the corridor was clear
before activating the ladder and trap-door release mechanism. She went down first
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and after I had followed her down, the ladder automatically retracted. As soon as
the trap door had closed then the corridor sealing door started opening.
I had a thought. ‘Hey. How come there aren’t any hyper-spatial field generators
up there?’
She smiled. “I’m glad you noticed that. Apparently their field pattern heads up
quite a distance, causing the hole they punch through the space-time continuum to
encompass the whole height of the ship. It isn’t necessary to have them up there as
well.”
We were soon on our way and out of immediate danger. To have been caught in
that corridor by a guard would have taken some explanation.
That was the end of the mystery trips. I don’t know if we had run out of secret
places to visit or if Filicia had just felt too bad about the last set of places. I knew
that she was very upset that she had caused me distress with the last day of visits.
She made up for it by being extra nice to me over the next few weeks, but she
somehow didn’t seem to forgive herself for it. I knew she had meant well and as far
as I was concerned there was nothing to forgive. But people are strange. If they
feel they have done wrong and have not been punished for it, they will inevitably
contrive to punish themselves for the crime, albeit unconsciously.
All in all, it probably took Filicia about four weeks to recover from that incident
and to be fully back to her usual self. This was a relief for both of us, I can assure
you.
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9 Love
It was a normal working day and so far that morning I had changed three light
bulbs, two sensors in apartments and one door sensor. The door sensor had decided
that there was somebody in the doorway permanently, and therefore refused to
allow the door to close.
The next job was another bulb. This work was not exactly taxing my mental
capacities! I picked up the replacement bulb. Strange. This was a special
high-intensity directed light bulb, rather than the diffused light bulbs that were
normally used in corridors and apartments. Interest at last. Who would need such a
bulb? Perhaps somebody working on something small and delicate.
I didn’t have long to consider the possibilities because I arrived at my
destination very soon after picking up the bulb. This place seemed familiar. I
activated the door chime and the door opened to reveal the old man; the one who
fitted collars and who was himself a Black. In fact the only Black I had ever seen.
He was pleased to see me. “Ah, you’ve come to fix my bench light. Excellent.
Excellent. I only reported it a few moments ago. Excellent service. Excellent, yes
indeed. It’s over here.”
I saw the bench light on a table covered in bits of collars. I had seen this before,
of course, last time I was here. That was when I switched from a White to a Green.
This was going to be a very short job. It was only a question of putting on a pair of
thin gloves before handling the bulb, then unscrewing the old one and screwing in
the new one. The lamp came on when the switch was thrown; that was the testing
phase done.
It wasn’t ordinarily necessary to use gloves, but this was a very small
light-weight bulb that put out a phenomenal amount of light. Finger grease on the
surface would cut down the light output enormously and risk overheating the bulb.
Now I had a disposable pair of gloves, a dud bulb and the packet the new bulb
came in to dispose of. The old man pointed to a chute on the wall and this cleared
up the remaining task. All done.
The old man had been looking at me and I had a sense of foreboding. Oh no, not
another pervert. “You seem familiar. You’re Filicia’s young man aren’t you?”
I was taken aback. What? How did he know? I spluttered in answer. ‘Yeah, I
mean…Yes sir.’
He was amused. “Oh it’s alright. You don’t have to worry about me. Filicia is a
friend. She told me about you, that’s all. It’s not public knowledge or anything.
She likes you a lot.”
Public knowledge; that was a funny turn of phrase here. There was really no
sense of public here; no sense of community, no sense of a group. You were on
your own. There was no such thing as a public gathering, public debate or
meetings. There was no community life at all. If I didn’t have Filicia, then I would
be virtually on my own. The only companionship would have been from J’an and
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Gron at lunch times. That was probably just about enough to stop you going crazy,
but only just.
Anyway, my sense of relief was considerable. He was a Black and therefore very
powerful. If he wanted anything he could get it, and if that meant harm to me then
that was too bad. I was uneasy being around people who had so much power. They
only had to get slightly upset with you, and you were history. I liked the idea of at
least having a fighting chance.
I had been silently thinking about this and the old man was just looking at me.
Best to continue the conversation. ‘I like her a lot too. In fact I wanted her to move
in with me, but she said she couldn’t because I wasn’t a Blue or higher. I’m sure
she would have, if she could. I just have to find out how to get promoted. …You
don’t happen to know how I could get promoted do you?’
He became somewhat distant as he stroked his chin and hmm’ed to himself. He
walked about the room a bit, pacing. “Well, I might be able to help with that. Take
a seat over there.”
He directed me to a chair near a desk, whilst he continued pacing. “Normally,
when a new Master Technician is needed, those that haven’t been checked before
are given a session with a Teacher to see if they are suitable. The first one to pass
gets the job. There isn’t a need for a new Master Technician at the moment, so I’m
not sure how it would work out. But since you are a friend of Filicia I’ll see what I
can do. For now, you had better get back to work.”
This was evidently my cue to leave. I stood and moved to the door a little before
stopping and looking directly at the old man. ‘Thank you, sir. Thank you very
much.’
He nodded and started shooing me out of the room. I moved out and I didn’t
look back. It was an otherwise uneventful morning and I had lunch at the café as
usual. I didn’t mention the visit to the old man to Gron or J’an though. Why get too
excited about something that might never happen? Besides they were senior to me
and I would be jumping over them if I were to get promoted. They couldn’t be
expected to be happy about that.
In the afternoon, after a few mundane jobs, the epad read ‘Report to Teacher
room’ and directed me there. My excitement was building. Would I pass? There
was a lot riding on this. Previously I had not known what was at stake. Now I knew
that if I failed, then there would not be another chance. My hands were getting
sweaty. This was not satisfactory. I needed to confront the forthcoming test
without fear or worry. I recalled the Old Knowledge; I recalled the mantra. Yes, I
would go into battle without fear, knowing that I would do my best. I could do this.
This time I could be prepared; I knew exactly what to expect.
My preparations were complete by the time I arrived at the designated place. It
was in an up-town office with an open door. I entered and there was just one
Teacher there. This one looked considerably better maintained than the previous
ones I had seen. From a side door a tall red-head entered; she activated a control
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that closed the outer door. We were alone in there, and somehow the lights seemed
a bit dimmer as well. It was the same red-head whose sensor we had changed on
my first day on the Technician’s job. She was not dressed in a diaphanous night-
gown now, thankfully, but her figure pushed through her clothes in all the right
places just the same. Her long red hair had been tied back out of the way and she
looked every bit the professional. She was probably twice as old as me, but she
was a sensationally sexy lady. She looked at me with not so much come-to-bed
eyes, as ‘come here and I’ll drain you dry and eat the remains’ sort of eyes.
It was difficult to not look at her figure, but I managed it for just an instant; just
long enough to spot the black ring on her finger. The thin shiny black ring
contrasted heavily with the pale skin of her hand.
I was here to get promoted so I could have Filicia come to live with me,
essentially as my wife, and yet here I was having fantasies about this sex bomb in
front of me. It was difficult to take my attention off of her. She seemed to move
deliberately in a sexually enticing manner. This woman could just twist me around
her little finger. I could feel the sexual power just oozing out of every pore in her
body. I swallowed hard and tried to stay focused. My only escape was to run, but
the door was shut and she had the controller. And this was my best shot at getting
promoted.
The mantra was invoked again. Fortunately she was being very professional and
she directed me to sit under the Teacher. She had some sort of cartridge in her hand
which she inserted into a slot in the wall. This must have been a program for the
Teacher, giving it the knowledge to impart. I wondered what other cartridges there
were. I was a searcher after truth. I would like to know what there was to be
known, even if I was not myself allowed to learn it. I was focused now; at last;
thank goodness. The Teacher was lowering itself into place and I was ready.
It was the same sequence as before. The pictures started slowly at first, then
built up more rapidly. Events, scenes, history, technology. I was like a sponge
absorbing the information. It was pictures and sounds of events. They could not
harm me; I would not let them harm me. None of it was real in any genuine
physical sense. Just images; like watching the Vid. It was there to be used or
discarded as I chose. With knowledge came responsibility and the ability to
control. This was acceptable to me. The session ended and I honestly didn’t feel
any different. The Teacher raised itself out of the way and the red-head came over
to me. “Congratulations, you passed. I’ll take you to get a new collar now.”
I nodded and stood up. I couldn’t think of anything to say. I did it! The waves of
relief did not come flooding over me immediately. I had prepared myself for any
result, so the emotional dampers were in place. As we walked down the corridors I
was just numb. I paid no attention to the red-head and none to where we were
going either. It was as if I were detached from it all somehow.
We arrived at the old man’s up-town workshop. It was similar in style to the
down-town workshop, but it had higher quality fittings and fixtures. Since the old
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man was in charge of both, they were more similar than different. The red-head just
showed me in, then left without saying anything to the old man. They just looked
at each other briefly and smiled. There was definitely a connection between those
two that was not work related. Of course, the black ring! I had only ever seen one
Black so there was a fairly high probability that she was his woman.
“Well young man, I’m glad to see you passed.”
‘You don’t sound very surprised.’
“Well, er, no. Well, to tell you the truth almost nobody fails that particular bit of
training. There isn’t very much extra stuff to learn, so it’s pretty much a certainty
that anybody who gets that far is going to get the collar.” He smiled, a fatherly sort
of smile.
Now he tells me, after all that worry! ‘What do I do now?’
“Well the first thing we have to do is to put on your new blue collar.”
‘That wasn’t exactly what I meant.’
He was ushering me to a chair, so I moved to it and sat down as I continued.
‘I was wondering about how to explain this new collar to the other technicians
and how to go about getting a new job.’
“Oh, well, let’s worry about getting the collar on first before we go rushing
ahead of ourselves, ok?”
I nodded weakly in response. He had somehow managed to get a blue collar in
his hands. I hadn’t seen where it had come from, which just shows how much
attention I was paying to what was going on around me. The collar was already
open and he approached from the side and just snapped it into position. Now I had
two collars, the worst of both possible worlds.
He wandered off up the room and came back with a small tool concealed in his
hand. This was all just the same procedure as on previous occasions. Although I
could not see what he was doing, I knew from past experience that he was rotating
my green collar to find the opening and then placing the removal device across this
joint. The high pitched whining was followed quickly by a quiet click as the collar
unlatched and was removed. This left the new blue collar in its place.
True to form, the blue collar was thinner and lighter than the green. It is funny
how you get used to the weight of a collar. This one felt different; well, lighter. It
provided a tangible improvement in ones freedom. After all, it was smaller and
lighter. I had less to hold me down, so I was to that degree freer.
“There, that’s better.”
I looked up at him and he smiled. “Now, about that new job; you start
tomorrow.”
I was stunned. He had said that no new Master Technician’s were needed and
now I was promoted. He hadn’t, no he wouldn’t have surely. I couldn’t stand the
idea of somebody being removed to make way for me. I guess this thought
manifested itself on my face.
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“Oh, it’s alright. Nobody was harmed to make the place available. I just did a bit
of creative re-allocation. Let’s just leave it at that.”
I was relieved and the tension fell away from me. I was just able to smile
weakly.
‘Thank you.’
Boy that was a weak ‘thank you’. It was barely audible. I had been so keyed-up
and on edge that I doubted that I could survive this much longer. I just needed to
be on my own for a bit to recover my balance.
“Now you don’t exactly have to hide your new status, but don’t go flaunting it
either. It would be best if you didn’t go back to your old maintenance shop because
they might want to know how come you got promoted ahead of them.
You will get your new instructions tomorrow, over your Vid.”
I looked across the room to where I had placed my toolkit and epad.
‘What do I do with those?’
“Hmm, well, it wouldn’t do to return to the maintenance shop to return them
because you might get seen. You hang on to them tonight and take them with you
tomorrow. I’ll sort out the rest of the details. Now, you’re finished working today.
So, get off home with you.”
He was indicating for me to leave. I stood up and made my way across to the
toolkit and epad. I was simultaneously trying to formulate a ‘thank you’ speech. I
had slung the epad around my neck and was just hanging the toolkit over my left
shoulder when I started.
‘I just wanted to say that I really appreciate what you have done for Filicia and
me. I mean you have really helped us a lot and I …’
“Yes, yes, I know. Off you go now. There is no need for a speech.”
I was being ushered out of the door again. Oh, well. I was never any good at
speeches anyway. It was something of a relief to be forced to leave. I programmed
the epad for my home and followed its directions blindly.
At last I was in the open space of the down-town square. This was my home
territory. There was nobody in immediate view. Finally the emotion could not be
contained anymore. It entered my lungs and escaped through my mouth.
‘Y_E_S!’
Even I was surprised by the volume. I had done it; I’d won! Unbelievable. I got
a few stares from distant people who I had not particularly noticed before. Who
cares? Let them look: I was a Blue. If they had a problem with me then they had
better be Browns, Blacks or Founders.
Filicia came to my apartment at tea time as usual. I let her in and she was visibly
surprised to see my collar. Boy was she surprised! She hugged me and practically
squeezed the life out of me. We just stood there in the open doorway. Eventually
she relaxed her grip a bit and I could speak. ‘Filicia, will you come and live with
me, …please.’
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She acted coy.
“What would people think? You could just order me you know. Now you’re a
Blue, I have to do everything you say or I could get ‘adjusted’.”
I pulled her into the apartment, allowing the door to close behind her.
‘The only sort of adjustment you’re going to get is from me.’
I spun her around and pushed her roughly against the wall. We were experienced
lovers by now and we knew what the other could take happily. My hands grappled
with her body and hers with mine; kneading the flesh, grasping, pulling. I took
time out to release my weapon and without any more preliminaries it was diving
for gold. It had no sooner penetrated when she spun me around. I had been off
balance with one hand on guiding duty, she had the advantage. “We’ll see who
gets adjusted!”
She had somehow managed to pin both of my hands to the wall and was now
thrusting herself over me! God, this was good! It didn’t take long for us to get
there, we were both excited by the new collar. This was our celebration of it. She
came first and weakened slightly after my first squirt. She had loosened her grip on
my left hand and it fell around her waist. I needed to get in those last couple of
thrusts, to let the last of my seed pulse into her. There, there, done.
We were exhausted. By tacit mutual consent we just slumped onto the floor
where we were. After a short recovery period, I put what had been a raging beast,
and was now a limp shrivelled-up thing, back in its cage. ‘Should I take that as a
yes?’
She slid over beside me and just before our lips met she said ‘yes’.
As we sat there recovering, she pulled a small box out of her pocket and gave it
to me. “Perhaps you might like to give this to me.”
I opened the box and found a thin blue ring in it. She knew all along! I should
have guessed; she always knew what was going on. I placed the ring gently on her
finger then kissed her equally gently. Surely this was the happiest day of my life.
We eventually parted and made our way to the kitchen area.
She had been living with me for several days and I had not been able to train. She
was in the apartment when I was. There was no way to train without her finding
out. I had to tell her about the Old Knowledge or I had to stop training. It was a
real sticking point for me. I had been brought up to know that if women found out
about the Old Knowledge then we would all be in trouble. And now I had to
decide, with no help from anybody. Should I let her in on the secret?
We were having an evening meal together and I thought I would raise the
subject. ‘Filicia, I have a secret to share with you. On my Homeworld it was
forbidden to learn fighting skills. I was secretly trained in the ancient ways by my
Uncle and I need to train to retain that ability.’
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She smiled. “So what’s the problem? On my world lots of people learned all
sorts of Martial Arts. I even did some myself for a few months over a summer
holiday. It might be an idea if you taught me some of these ancient ways.”
I was taken aback. All the worry and it was just nothing really. From that night
onwards we were closer than ever. She seemed a very enthusiastic student and it
helped me to practice on a living person, rather than just shadow boxing. I began to
teach her everything I knew about the Old Knowledge. After all, there were no
distractions, so there was no reason not too.
On the farm there would always have been work to do. Here was different.
Having done a day’s work, there was a period of free time in the evening. Nothing
was needed from me during this time, so I could devote all of it to training,
teaching and of course love making.
It’s true that we did spend a lot more time making love in those first few weeks
together, but after a while we settled down to a more sustainable level of activity.
It’s like she said, any more sex and I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk
straight. Well it never went quite that far, but I certainly did get to the point where
I didn’t feel like walking too far or too fast!
We were closer than any two people could be. She was my lover, my friend, my
confidante. Closer even than I had been with my wife. Oh yes, I remembered my
wife now. The memory had gradually come back to me over a period of time. I
became safe and secure in my new environment and my memory gradually
returned. I can’t be sure if the dulling of my memory was something that the
Teacher had done or if it was my mind’s natural protection against the horrors of
the past. Either way, the attenuation of those memories in the early weeks of my
life on the City had helped me to settle in to my new life.
It was very much a new life you see. My old life on the farm had died along with
my wife on that first day. After that there was the pain of being re-born and now I
was happy again. I wasn’t free, but then nobody here was truly free. I was doing
well compared to those around me, so I couldn’t complain.
I was a young man. I had a good home, a beautiful woman who loved me, a
stable job. All thoughts of revenge and retribution were suppressed. I was too
happy to worry about such things. Besides, against whom could I vent my anger?
The Founders were ultimately responsible and yet they were never around. The
soldiers in the Security section were equally culpable, but they were also armed to
the teeth and inaccessible. Were they all guilty collectively or was it just the ones
who had pushed the button? Should I also blame the administrators who issued the
quotas to the soldiers for materials and personnel to be acquired from my planet?
These were hard questions to answer and they were more philosophical than I
was trained to deal with. The fact of the matter is that such considerations only
came about when one was alone or idle. As it was, my days were occupied with my
work and my nights were occupied with Filicia. I didn’t have time for idle
philosophising. My life was full.
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Filicia lay by my side. We had just exhausted ourselves in our lovemaking and lay
together recovering. It had been nine months since we had first met and our love
had grown stronger day by day. She filled my days and my nights, even when we
were apart. I could go about my daily routine oblivious to the plight of others,
simply because I was whole again. I needed nothing from anyone; I was complete.
Well I had come to realise that I wanted something more, I wanted a son. We
had never discussed a long term commitment; it had always been the passion of a
final embrace. We always made love as if this would be our last day together and
that if we missed this chance there would not be another. We were living only for
today, with such passion that nothing could touch us. I felt that now was a good
time to mention it, but even so I spoke with some trepidation. ‘Filicia, I want to
have a son.’
She sat up with a start, pulling the sheets up to cover her naked breasts. “But
didn’t you know? No, how would you know. Oh, Joran, Joran, I’m so sorry.”
She fell against me, her head resting on my chest, sobbing. ‘What’s wrong
Filicia?’
The sobbing gradually abated and she sat back up, talking to me, but looking
vacantly at the wall. “None of us can have children, Joran. When we first came
here they fixed us up so we couldn’t. All of us. They don’t want children. Well the
Founders would love to have children, but they can’t and because they can’t we
can’t either. Children would take up space and be non-productive. They shined
some sort of a light on us when we first came here. They said it was to kill off any
harmful diseases that we might have brought with us. As usual, they lied.”
She had been barely choking back the tears as she had been speaking and now
she broke down again. I held her to my chest. There was nothing I could say. After
a few minutes she pulled away. “There’s more Joran. I want you to hear it. I need
you to understand. When we first arrived we were washed, inoculated, sterilised
and lined up naked for inspection by the Founders. They get the first pick. They are
only allowed to take one at a time from each new batch, because they have great
appetites. I was the first one picked by one of the most senior Founders; Founder
Ruddoc. He was very old: they live much longer than us you know. I was only
young, too young to know about men. I was untouched, a virgin.”
“He gave me a covering and marched me up to his quarters. I was told to lie on
the bed and he undressed. An awful sight. His flesh was wrinkled and flabby. It
was old and leathery. I was scared of him and did not resist him in any way. He
grabbed my breasts and squeezed them so hard that I cried out in pain. Then he
thrust himself inside me. Oh, the pain. He forced it in again and again. The more I
cried out the more he seemed to enjoy it. Again and again his foul breath pulsed in
my face as he thrust himself in me. And then he came inside me and it was over.
For that day.”
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“He repeated this day after day and after a while it didn’t hurt so badly and I no
longer cried out. I just felt numb and lay there thinking of my home until it was
over. When he could no longer make me cry out in this way, he started taking me
from behind. He smeared some lotion on himself to make it more slippery and
thrust himself in me from behind. This was even worse than before. I bit down on
the cushion to stop myself from crying out whatever he did. I realised he actually
enjoyed my pain and when he could not make me cry out in pain anymore, he got
bored with me and sent me back to Zone 5.”
“I have been back to Zone 5 so many times, Joran. They have all had me. Time
and time again. And every one of them became frustrated that I would not respond
to them and sent me back. Not all of them wanted to hurt me, although a lot did.
Some even tried to woo me by showing me the secret places of the City. You
know, all the places that I took you. They were shown to me by my masters trying
to impress me. I learned all I could, but I never gave myself to them willingly.
Even the ones who tried to be tender got no pleasure out of me and sent me back.”
“Even when I was promoted to a yellow, even when I was first with you, they
still took me whenever they wanted. I learned to be impassive; just staring at the
ceiling. It was only when you gave me the ring that it stopped. I didn’t tell you
what the ring meant to me Joran. It meant I was the property of a Blue. Only a
Black or a Founder could take me once I was your property. Even Founders tend to
avoid women indentured to Blues and above. In any case the Founders would
already have had any women they wanted for as long as they wanted. By the time a
woman was indentured to someone else, she would have been used by as many
Founders as wanted her.”
“You are the first person I have willingly given myself to Joran, ever. I am
yours, if you still want me, knowing that everyone else has had me. But they
haven’t really had me at all, only the flesh. I have found that not reacting to a man
is the best way of discouraging him. Whatever they did I just ignored them. They
must have felt they were penetrating dead flesh. Only you have truly had me
Joran.”
She was quietly snuffing as she buried her face in my chest. She had revealed
her innermost personal self to me. It was time that I came clean and told her of my
shame too.
‘Filicia, I never told you; I was too embarrassed to tell you. When I first started
out as a Technician, on my first day on the job on my own, a Brown raped me. He
ordered me to stand naked against the wall as he stuck his dick into me. It
disgusted me and I felt so dirty that I couldn’t tell you. I’ve been hiding it even
from myself it was so revolting. I know it doesn’t compare with what you went
through, but it does mean that I really do understand what it feels like.’
She pulled away from my chest and looked into my eyes. “Oh my darling, I
knew. Of course I knew. I knew it was going to happen before you did, but I also
knew there was nothing you could do about it if I told you. That’s why I kept quiet.
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I’ve been waiting all this time for you to tell me about it so you could let it go and
put it behind you.”
There was nothing to say at this point. My eyes welled up and just held her
tighter to me for a while. Then I just started caressing her tenderly, and she
caressed me back. And although we were spent from our previous exertions, we
somehow found the energy to make love again. But this time was somehow
different; better, so much better. By being so open with each other we had removed
a final barrier between us. It was as if our souls inter-twined and we floated free of
the mundane world of existence. And when we both came together, our bodily
fluids uniting in that final moment, we had no words left. It was just sheer pleasure
and exhaustion intermixed. The exhaustion won out and we fell asleep. Well I fell
asleep at least. I rather hoped that we could share our exhaustion as well.
For the first few days after that evening, things were not quite the same between
us. I don’t know if it was the fact that Filicia couldn’t bear me a child or if it was
her admission that she had had sex with the majority of the senior staff and
Founders of the City. It was ok for me to wonder, but spelling it out like that made
it uncomfortably real. Perhaps I would have preferred for it to be less real. I guess
that makes me a shallow person, but it did upset me.
I comforted myself in the knowledge that of all of them, she had chosen me.
That made me feel special, but it was not quite enough for me to be entirely
comfortable. In the weeks that followed we never spoke of that night again and
gradually things returned to normal. I was grateful to her for giving me enough
space to get used to the idea and soon it was just a distant memory for me too.
Over time I felt that she was wounded by the situation more than I was, and I
was able to comfort her. And so together we comforted each other and made each
other stronger. Funny, I had never thought of myself as weak and yet together we
were definitely stronger. It’s hard to express this in any other way. Individually we
were not weak, but together we were stronger. The two of us united against any
enemy. We made a powerful team. We needed to be powerful to survive in this
hostile world. There were just us two, with most of the rest of the universe out
there to trip us up should we falter.
By now I had finished explaining all of the rules and techniques of the Old
Knowledge to her. There was no reason to hold back on it. Filicia was surprised
that I taught her so quickly, despite the fact that there was so much to learn. She
had said that on her world it was common practice for the Master to eke out the
wisdom in small chunks over a long period of time. By giving out just enough
information to keep the student from going away, the Master gained the maximum
amount from the student. This was an alien concept to me. On Filicia’s world the
Master would exploit the student for his own profit. The student would do chores
for the Master without pay or would pay a fee to be trained and would do so over a
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long period of time. Hence stringing it out and keeping the money rolling in made
good financial sense.
This was a hateful concept to me. The Old Knowledge was imparted freely to
the student on the understanding that it would be passed on in the same way. The
time available to impart the Old Knowledge was limited since it was a crime to
teach the Old Knowledge. There was often not enough time for the student to
develop the necessary physical skills to fully utilise the Old Knowledge, but by
being shown the basics of the subject and the theoretical skills, it was then possible
for the student to improve his own physical skills and hone them to perfection in
isolation. This was not ideal, but it was often the only choice available.
Whilst Filicia had readily absorbed all of the wisdom of the Old Knowledge and
could readily recite any part of it back to me, I was not convinced that it was a part
of her. She had this photographic memory trick of hers, and she could just replay
any memory record at will. This is great for doing exams, but is not so useful when
you find yourself in the position of having to do something with that knowledge.
She also seemed to have reached a steady level of performance in her physical
fighting skills. She didn’t have the will to fight and win. It takes a certain frame of
mind to be able to strike at vital areas of the body, knowing that such a blow could
kill, maim or cripple. Yes you could force somebody to learn a little of this and
they would be better than useless, but to really develop skill one had to invest more
of oneself into the activity.
I doubt that anybody could learn to kill like this unless they had something deep
inside them that allowed it. Most people have this “killer instinct” somewhere deep
inside themselves, and enough training will bring it out. I think that Filicia did not
have it. Yes, it is true that she was the first person I had trained, but I have trained
others since and they responded differently to her. I have trained many men and
women since then and she is the only one I ever met who could not bring herself to
that point.
It came to the point where I could no longer train her and she realised it too. She
refused to do more and more of the techniques. Sweep the front leg and when the
person was down on the ground, stomp your heel down hard on the neck to crush
the wind-pipe and possibly snap the spine. She wouldn’t do that last part.
Ok she had to practice on me, and the idea was that on the dangerous part you
just made the move in slow motion, making sure that your partner was not injured.
I would agree that I didn’t want my spine snapped, thank you very much. She
would always say that she was frightened of hurting me, but I wasn’t buying that.
The problem is that the Old Knowledge is a Martial Art. This means War or
War-like Art. It is no good knocking your opponent down and letting him get back
up again a few moments later, particularly when you are outnumbered. And so it
happened that I had a mobile target to spar with, and to practice warm-up exercises
with, but she never became a guardian of the Old Knowledge; she would never be
able to pass on the skill of how to fight and win. She would always have some
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back-off about hurting the enemy; in a fight she would unwillingly get herself
injured rather that stop her attacker. Not a very pro-survival attitude, but then she
always had me around to fight her battles for her; I supposed that this would be
acceptable. I was not entirely correct on this last point as it turned out.
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10 Attack
Time passed and it was the evening of another day on which we had jumped
systems. Filicia and I had of course taken the opportunity to jump each other
during the zero-g hyper-space transition and we had excelled ourselves on this
occasion. Too exhausted to make out again when we went to bed for the evening,
we just lay against each other and took comfort in the proximity of a friendly body.
Filicia had a restless night and therefore so did I. The next morning I was
shattered, having had far too little sleep and far too much trying to sleep. Curiously
the act of trying to get to sleep was far more tiring than just going without sleep at
all. Filicia looked pretty rough too. When I asked her about it, she just said that she
felt something wasn’t quite right, but that she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
She felt as if something bad were going to happen soon, but she just wasn’t sure
exactly what or when.
I didn’t really want to leave her that morning, but we both had work to go to. I
think she would have preferred it if we had stayed together as well, but this was
out of the question. It was just not sensible and we were both too sensible to be
swayed by one bad nights sleep.
We had arranged ourselves so that we always left the apartment together in the
mornings. She would leave the apartment and turn left and I would go right. This
morning was no different, except that we kissed goodbye more passionately than
normal.
I had the normal routine of settling down at the Master Scheduler and working
out the assignments for the day. This was not exactly taxing my abilities, but then
again it was better than cleaning shit off the floor in Zone 5. I should be grateful
that I had such a pleasant job.
The indicator sounded to show that somebody had entered the outer office. Who
could that be at this time of day? I dug myself out of the comfortable chair I had
been wallowing in, and moved unenthusiastically to the door. I didn’t like my
routine being interfered with. As the door slid open it revealed Filicia and she flew
into my arms. Any antagonism that might have been building concerning my being
interrupted immediately evaporated and I was glad that we were safely in each
others arms again.
It took some little time before we were prepared to release each other. ‘What are
you doing here Filicia?’
“I just didn’t feel comfortable in my office. I needed to be near you.”
‘Fine.’
We just hugged each other a bit more and were rudely interrupted by the public
address system. “This is an Emergency. The City is under attack. Seal all
inter-zone bulkheads. Everybody: If you are at work, stay there. If you are in
your apartment, stay there. If you are in the corridors or in the square, then
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get out of the corridors immediately. Do not try to cross Zones. The Zones are
now sealed. I repeat, this is an Emergency. We are under attack!”
We stopped hugging as soon as the announcement started and we listened
intently to it. As soon as it was finished, Filicia grabbed my arm and started pulling
me in the direction of the door. I wasn’t about to go anywhere at the moment, so
her pulling might just as well have been applied to a mountain. I just stayed put.
‘And where do you think you are going? The announcement said to stay put or to
get out of the corridors. We should stay here.’
She continued to pull. “I know all that. I know a safer place. …Trust me.”
I weakened at that point. How could I refuse to do what she said when she asked
me to trust her? Clearly I could not do anything else than let her drag me out of the
room. She had been in the City for far longer than me and she knew all the secret
places. If she said she knew a safer place, then you could bet your life that it would
be a safer place. Of course I was betting my life in this situation, but that was ok
too.
We moved rapidly through the corridors and I rapidly became lost. She was not
making any attempt to use a simple route. This was the most direct route in terms
of speed. We turned into a long corridor and suddenly I knew where we were. I
saw the tiny marking on the corridor wall as we turned into a dead-end corridor
and I knew where we were heading.
I knew to expect the corridor to bend and for a ladder to be hidden there and as
Filicia moved to the side to let me go up the ladder first, I tried to recall the
combination of the door. Three-oh-one-oh-something. It was difficult to
concentrate and climb the ladder quickly. It was three-oh-one-oh, I couldn’t quite
get it. I reached the top of the ladder and caught my breath for a second.
Filicia had not waited for me to get to the top. She had been hot on my heels, so
I didn’t even get a chance to catch my breath. The control panel was in front of me
and Filicia was now by my side.
“Well Joran, do you remember the combination?”
‘It’s three-oh-one-oh-… er -seven.’
“Very good. Key it in.”
I pressed the keys, whilst simultaneously saying the numbers under my breath.
The door slid open quietly and we entered just as quietly, for no particular reason.
It took a few seconds to adjust to the dull lighting in the room when the door shut
behind us. While we were waiting to be able to see clearly, we automatically made
our way towards the viewport.
The Armalloy shutters were closing, but very slowly. ‘It doesn’t look very safe
in here with those shutters open.’
“No it doesn’t look very safe, but it is. This window is very small and unless
there is a direct hit on it, everything will be fine. The shutters are already covering
part of the gap, so there is almost no chance that a ship would have the right angle
to shoot at it, even if they knew that it was here. No. Enemy fire will be directed at
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the Dome while they still can. The shutters will be closed fully in a few moments
and then we will be really safe.”
“We have emergency supplies here and space suits. The door is a pressure door
and combination locked; nobody is likely to be able to break it in easily. Also, they
wouldn’t even know that the door was there. Invaders are more likely to be trying
to get to the centre of the City. The other advantage is that if the Founders use their
secret weapon then its effects will not reach us here. Even those in Zone 3
wouldn’t be safe.”
We were looking down at the Dome and we could see people rushing to get out
of it. They were all heading outwards from the centre to the exits around the edges.
It looked almost comical, especially since the Founders were generally corpulent
and couldn’t move at any reasonable speed.
We just stood and stared in open mouthed horror as the missiles came through
the open Armalloy shutters. With fiery tails from their rocket engines, they blazed
into view and smashed headlong into the transparent Armaplex Dome. It was
inconceivable that the Armaplex could withstand such an onslaught and yet it
somehow did.
We didn’t have an angle to see the attacking ships and now the shutters were
nearly closed. Over a dozen missiles had hit the Dome and it seemed completely
unaffected. It looked as if the immediate danger was nearly over. Suddenly there
was a final burst of missiles. First a single missile hit the Dome right at the top,
again with no effect, then a pair of missiles from different directions converged on
a spot just away from the centre. Clearly there was more than one ship attacking us.
It is interesting to note at this point that the missiles were attacking us. I had no
concept of the Founders being attacked and good riddance; any enemy of theirs
was a friend of ours or any such nonsense. I had not seen or heard of a Founder for
months. The City was my home, and Filicia’s home. These guys with the missiles
were attacking us and I hoped that they got what was coming to them.
The two missiles meanwhile struck almost at the same time and the same place.
We heard the impact even where we were. The sound waves must have conducted
the whole length of the City. In fact there had been a lot of these sounds since we
had been in this emergency repair port and I now realised that the attacking ships
must have been firing these missiles onto the Armalloy hull as well. That was a
complete waste of time. They could pound that hull with those toy weapons
indefinitely and they would not have the slightest effect on it.
Armaplex was something else though. It could withstand a single missile strike,
even multiple missile strikes, but there was no way it could withstand a
simultaneous hit. The shock waves from the individual missiles travelled towards
each other at breakneck speed and when they intersected the sudden compression
change over-stressed the Armaplex. We could see a crack starting to form in the
outer skin. This was not a good sign.
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Air began boiling out into space through the crack. Seconds later the tower
which Filicia had pointed out to me on our previous visit came to life. It raised
itself and pointed directly at the crack. With no warning, something shot from the
mouth of the pointed end-section of the tower and a blue blanket of gooey stuff
spread itself out on the inside of the Dome in the area of the crack. The visible jets
of expanding air stopped immediately. I was impressed by the speed and efficiency
of this technology.
I had been expecting the shutters to come together with a thump and the gap to
be sealed. That isn’t what happened. I sort of had the idea that the gap was closing
at an increasingly fast rate and that was in fact the case. This is why the shutters
were not very far closed by the time we got here and yet they managed to do the
last part really quickly.
There was very little friction on the shutters, but they had a very high mass. The
motors were there to accelerate the shutters. All the time we were watching them,
they were accelerating. But the joint at the middle was not a simple butt joint. The
shutters were not in line to form a butt joint against one another: One overlapped
the other. This had two advantages. The first was that they could close more
quickly because you did not have to decelerate them before they hit into each
other. The second was that the overlapped gap would not let a blast through it.
With a butt joint, a macro-nucleonic bomb placed at the joint would force the
shutters open and the blast would definitely shatter the Dome. With the shutters
overlapped, the same bomb would have its blast directed harmlessly along the
length of the hull.
Filicia pointed up at the shutters. “Watch this next part carefully.”
We could see the shutters still moving by the light from the Dome. It was now
apparent just how much light the Dome was throwing out into space. There was a
sudden lurch that I felt through my feet. It seemed as if both shutters dropped and
there was a sickening grinding sound as the shutters rapidly ground to a halt.
‘What the hell just happened?’
“It’s very simple. The shutters were moving at their maximum velocity. They
only do this in an emergency. They are moving too fast for the induction drivers to
slow them down. If they just did nothing the shutters would overshoot their end
stops and fly off into space. The shutters don’t run on rails or anything like that.
They are magnetically levitated off the hull and moved by the induction drivers.
This is essentially a frictionless process in space and the drivers just accelerate the
shutters.”
Well that much I already knew; I would have to service the driver controls if
something went wrong with them. I let her continue though.
“In emergency situations, the shutters are accelerated beyond the ability of the
drivers to slow them down again in time. They are accelerated up to the point that
they overlap, then they are dumped. The drivers are just turned off. This removes
the lifting field as well as the driving field. The shutters just grind away at each
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other, dissipating all their energy as heat. Of course you can only do this with
Armalloy. Any other metal would just weld itself together. Armalloy, being so
fantastically thermally conductive, just heats up the whole mass of the metal
evenly.”
She had done it again. She knew more about the engineering details than I did,
and I had been on the training course! ‘So I suppose that now the shutters are
closed we are safe.’
“Not yet, no. Look, we only jumped into this system a day ago and we have been
attacked and damaged already. That is very unusual. The standard operating basis
is that we only fight when we have to.”
‘Huh? I don’t understand. My world had no technology to speak of and yet we
were blasted from orbit and thousands were killed.’
“Sorry, I didn’t make myself clear. Founder technology is superior to anything
they have ever met in hundreds of years of travel. Even so, they could be
overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers and a reasonable level of technology. If
there is a chance that they would get damaged or boarded, then they back off. The
planners don’t like fair fights. If they can’t smash the enemy easily and effortlessly
then they try elsewhere.”
‘So they beat up the little guys and when they meet the big guys they just run
away. Sounds pretty cowardly.’
“Well yes. I suppose it is when you look at it like that. Anyway, we are so far
out of the system at the moment that we should be able to jump again very quickly.
We just have to re-calculate a vector for a nice safe inter-stellar region and
re-charge the hyper-spatial power generators.”
‘You showed me the hyper-spatial power generators and said that they only ran
for five minutes at a time.’
“That’s right, they do. The thing is that it takes them a fair while to recover from
a jump.”
I gave her a sly smile. ‘Yeah, I know how they feel!’
She ignored this completely. “The Founders like to be certain, so they will
probably do a rapid inspection of the hyper-spatial power and field generators
before we jump again. I am guessing we have an hour or so before that happens.
Then we will be safe.”
‘You said we would jump to inter-stellar space. Why?’
“You think about it and then tell me.”
‘Hmm. Well, I guess somebody has to pick a new star system to visit and it must
take time to do that. And I suppose it is safer in terms of meeting any more
unfriendlies.’
“Top marks. It takes weeks to select a suitable star system and to calculate an
approach vector that takes us as close as possible to the inhabitable planets. We
also can’t afford to run into any more trouble until we have done some major
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repairs. It is quick and easy to plot a course into the inter-stellar void.. There is
nothing to hit there and we will be safe from attack.
After all, space is mostly just that, space. There is more space in-between
systems than is contained within systems. It’s just as well actually, otherwise
nobody would have been able to develop hyper-spatial travel. When it is first
developed there is little chance of controlling where you are going to go. If you
end up in the middle of a planet then it kind of limits your progress!”
‘Well, now that the shutters are closed and it looks as if there is nobody left in
the Dome, what do we do now?’
“Wait. There isn’t much else to do.”
I just started looking around the room. Apart from the suits and tools inset
slightly into the right hand wall, the room was pretty bare. No chairs to sit on, just
the bare cold floor. I pressed my nose up against the Armaplex window and looked
out into the Dome bay.
‘Hey, what’s that down there?’
It was only just in view, down in the bottom corner of the Dome bay. It looked
like a miniature shuttle, but from its size, I doubted if it could hold more than two
or three people.
Filicia came over and looked where I was pointing.
“I don’t know, but I would guess that it is either an emergency escape pod or a
maintenance shuttle to inspect and repair the Dome bay. Whatever it is, I’m glad
you spotted it. I will make some discrete enquiries when this is over. It may come
in handy at some time.”
‘In the meanwhile, it seems to be getting colder in here.’
“Well we are right up against an outer bulkhead. I suppose we should expect it
to be a bit colder than normal.”
‘But it wasn’t cold down with the Gravity field generators and the hyper-spatial
field generators.’
“But they were on and generating heat. There is nothing in here to generate any
heat. Probably it was warmer in here when the door let in warmer air. Now it is
cooling down.”
‘We could just open the door and leave it open.’
“No. If that door were to be held open, I’m sure it would cause an alarm to
sound.”
‘Well in that case how about pulling those suits down from the wall, sitting on
them and snuggling up together nice and close.’
“Sounds good to me.”
We pulled the suits down from the wall rack and piled them up on the floor. It
was not exactly comfortable sitting on them because they were very lumpy.
However, they were very good insulators. This way we didn’t get the heat of our
bodies sucked away through the floor and we did feel much better off. It was also
nice to snuggle up against Filicia.
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We sat there together for some time neither speaking nor moving, content to feel
each others warmth. We could hear and feel the explosions on the hull and they
didn’t seem to be reducing in size, but possibly they were becoming less frequent.
Had the aliens figured out that the hull was impervious to their attack or were they
just running out of missiles?
Suddenly there was an almighty explosion up by the shutters.
“Looks like they tried to blow the shutters apart with a big bomb.”
‘Why didn’t somebody try to stop them doing that?’
“Why bother? We know that they can’t do any damage to the Armalloy, so it
keeps them busy letting them attach bombs to the shutters. Besides, there are no
guns covering the middle of the ship. You know that nothing goes through the
Armalloy hull and therefore the only guns are at the ends of the ship. This would
make the middle of the ship vulnerable, if it weren’t for the fact that it’s made of
Armalloy of course!
It shouldn’t be long now. We should be ready to jump soon.”
As if on cue, the announcement sounded.
“Attention. Attention. Prepare for transition.”
I looked at Filicia for inspiration.
‘What are we going to do now?’
We both stood up and started searching around. Filicia spotted them first. There
were indentations in the wall racking that were outlines of a human body. There
were also arm and leg cuffs built into the moulded outline. Filicia moved up to one
of the four indentations and slotted herself into it. As she pressed her limbs into the
cuffs they snapped shut, holding her firmly in position. Her legs were about
shoulder width apart and her arms were down by her sides.
“Well now, it’s just as well that you are trustworthy and a gentleman. Anybody
else might want to take advantage of a lady in such a position.”
‘Who told you that I was a gentleman?’
It only took a few steps for me to be in position directly in front of her and a few
quick hand movements had the front of her blouse open enough to allow my hands
to access her firm breasts.
“Hah, so you are just like other men after all; a beast.”
Did she mean it? It seemed playful. I paused in my pursuit of gratification. I
looked at her. No, she wasn’t angry, she was playing games with me!
‘Yes, I’m just like other men and I want your breasts.’
With this I dived face first into her chest and my tongue explored there whilst
my hands were readying things down below.
“Weight reduction commencing.”
I was in by now and it seemed that the weight changes were occurring as I
pulled myself in. This was quite a struggle. Previously there was gravity to assist
or when we did a zero-g jump we were both pushing and pulling together. By the
time the weight was completely gone, I was struggling to hang on. I had both my
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hands around her hips and that was not a very stable position. I kept rotating here
and there which meant I had to be very careful.
This was much slower than normal. I just could not build up to any speed. Filicia
was tied to the wall and could not move very much, but that didn’t stop her from
making noise. What she lacked in motion of her body she made up for in audible
outpouring. I had never known her to make so much noise.
She came loudly whilst I was nowhere near completion. I was concentrating on
keeping going and not on my own pleasure. I was not tied down at all. If I lost hold
then I would float off into the room and that would be that.
She went quiet as I continued to thrust and then her pleasure began to become
reawakened. Now I was beginning to get close as well. This time when she came I
was only a short way behind her and after dumping the last pulse of my seed into
her, I inadvertently relaxed my grip.
Sure enough, I drifted away towards the far corner of the room. I had the
presence of mind to restore the beast to its cage before I succumbed to the luxury
of drifting off into space; weightless, and without a care in the world.
I seemed to drift endlessly in time and space until my relaxation was rudely
interrupted by the announcement.
“Weight increase beginning.”
It occurred to me then that I had not even noticed the transition or the
announcement. I guess I was otherwise occupied! The first stage of weight increase
caused me to start falling towards the floor. Fortunately it was not a very strong
field initially, so when I hit the floor at a funny angle, I didn’t do any damage.
It is remarkably difficult to stop yourself hitting at a funny angle when you are
weightless. You try to turn and one part of you turns one way whilst the rest goes
the other. You don’t seem to be able to move around and straighten yourself out.
Perhaps it is possible with practice, but then that was my first and last experience
with un-tethered weightlessness, so there was no further chance to practice.
Even before the weight was back to full strength, I walked over to Filicia.
‘Now that I have successfully taken advantage of you, I suppose I had better
figure out how to release you.’
She was grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh really?”
She did a sharp up and down motion on each limb in turn and the cuffs
un-latched one by one.
‘You faker!’
She lurched forward and grabbed me quickly but gently.
“Thank you darling. You were wonderful. … and I certainly wasn’t faking!”
And then she kissed me so passionately that I’m sure my heart missed a few
beats. Wow!
“Attention. Attention. Situation Normal. Release all bulkheads. Return to
normal operations.”
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The shutters began to open and Filicia released me so that she could restore her
clothing to its proper state. I gathered up the space suits and started putting them
back into the racks. Filicia gave me a hand with the last suit and the room was then
as we had found it.
“We have to go quickly now, because somebody may come here to inspect the
Dome for damage.”
I just nodded and we headed out. She reached the ladder first and went down it
pretty quickly. I dragged a bit behind. After all, it was me who had just drained his
jump engines! We rapidly reached the main corridor and she stopped.
“I have to get back to work. You can find your own way back can’t you?”
I nodded affirmatively.
“Good. I’ll see you tonight, Lover.”
With a quick peck on the lips she was off. I watched her waft down the corridor
without a care in the world. Somehow the light caught in her full blonde hair and
made it come alive. But I had work to go to and so I reluctantly turned away from
this angelic vision. I was heading in the opposite direction and at a much less
modest pace.
It was just as well that I got back to my station in good time. The amount of jobs
on the board had just gone through the roof. At first I thought that the attack had
jarred loose a load of old circuitry, and this had caused it to fail prematurely. This
was some of it, but certainly not the majority of it.
The jobs were coming in from two thirds of the City! I could only speculate that
the other repair crews had been re-assigned to work in the outer sections. Quite
why their crews had been re-assigned and mine hadn’t wasn’t clear, but it was clear
that we were up to our necks in work. There was no need for me to change
anything the computer had already allocated, since we were inundated with the
highest priority jobs. There was no point in trying to grade the lesser jobs. None of
them would get done today, or tomorrow or even the day after by the looks of
things. In fact I had enough genuine work of my own to be going on with up-town.
I picked up my epad and toolkit and headed out. It was going to be a long day.
I worked a bit late that night and when I arrived back at the apartment Filicia
wasn’t there. It didn’t look as if she had been back yet either, so I took the
opportunity to take a shower. That certainly hit the spot and when I emerged a
short while later I was greatly refreshed.
I had sat myself down in the kitchen just as Filicia arrived and when she saw me
she just rushed over and hugged me. This was somewhat awkward as she was still
standing up and I was still sitting down.
I gradually guided her to a seat. This was not happy hugging, but unhappy
hugging. ‘What happened Filicia?’
“It’s the White Zone. It took a hit.”
‘And?’
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“And an automatic bulkhead didn’t seal. Over fifty people in the Zone got
spaced. That’s a horrible way to go. There is a hole in that end of the ship and the
bodies were just blown into space.”
‘I thought Founder technology was better than that. I am surprised that the
Founders allowed themselves to be defeated so easily. I also thought they were
more vindictive than that. I thought they would want to come away even at least.’
She was only half speaking; more like getting words out between the crying
actually. “Men. You’re all alike. All you think about is winning a fight, not the
casualties. If you want to look at it like that then we won; we always win. You’re
right. The Founders are mean, vindictive people and they would never let anybody
win anything. Even as we speak, five stealth missiles are on their way to the
Homeworld of those Aliens.
Those missiles were all launched on specific trajectories and are now running
un-powered, ballistically. They are virtually undetectable in the vast expanse of
space and each one is on a wildly different path to that planet. Only one of them
needs to get though and it will just drop quietly into an ocean.
They just call the stuff ‘catalyst’, but actually it is a vile neuro-toxin. Over the
next few decades millions will die. Yes the Founders won. Bastards!”
So now we knew what the premonition was all about. It certainly warranted a
sleepless night. If ever she had such a premonition again then we would know to
be on guard. The only thing is, we wouldn’t know what to be on guard for.
We spent two months in the inter-stellar void making repairs before we jumped to
a new system. Evidently the damage to the ship was much worse than I had at first
thought. Most of the time was spent in reconstructing the Duralloy hull sections
that had been vaporised.
The full impact of the damage was made abundantly clear to the citizens as the
price of all commodities in the shops went up dramatically. There were no luxuries
on the shopping list during that period. It seemed that the citizens shared in the
good and bad fortunes of the City.
I had mixed feelings when we jumped to a new system and got re-supplied.
Obviously there were lots of replacements for the Zone 5 personnel who got
spaced and there were more supplies of food as well. All the prices of the goods in
the shops dropped soon after we had successfully acquired supplies from the
inhabitants of the star system we had entered.
My feelings were mixed simply because I knew that our prosperity was at the
expense of another civilisation. The only way I could put up with this was to avoid
looking at it. I knew it was happening, but I chose not to find out what had
happened to the people of the worlds we had passed. This didn’t make it ok, but it
did make it easier to live with. After all, it wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t doing it and
there was nothing that I could do about it either. If I complained about it then I
would have my attitude adjusted and another Technician would take my place.
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Besides, I didn’t work on anything that had to do with the weapons or the shuttles,
so my hands were clean.
You’re right. I should have done something and I was helping them rape their
way across the galaxy. The truth is that I was too scared to do anything. I had a
good life with Filicia, now that she was assigned to me. I didn’t want to ruin it. I
knew that if I kept quiet and did my job then they would leave us alone. Whilst it
was theoretically possible for a Founder to come along and take Filicia away from
me, it was also very unlikely.
There was hope for the future. I was not about to jeopardise this for a bunch of
aliens that I had never met. It wasn’t fair. Why should I have to feel bad for them
when there was nothing I could do? And yet there was nothing else that I could do
but grieve for them. This obviously gnawed at the remnants of my soul, day by
day, as I enjoyed the benefits that came with my position. And yet it is difficult to
feel too bad when surrounded by luxury and when engulfed by the arms of the
woman that you love.
And so time passed uneventfully, as we moved from system to system on a
never-ending tour around the galaxy. Life was easy for me now and I settled into a
simple rhythm and pattern of existence.
I trained less and less frequently now. After all, I had no tangible enemies and
life was good. Where was the need for combat?
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11 Missing!
We lay in bed together trying to be asleep, but not succeeding. Filicia had been
mumbling in her sleep and it had woken both of us. This was unusual, she was a
sound sleeper normally. The last time she had been like this was just before the
City was attacked. It was as if she was having another premonition; an unconscious
warning that something bad was going to happen. The only trouble was that she
didn’t know what it was going to be, so she got the worry without having any
means of averting the impending danger.
Now she was troubled again, and if she was troubled then so was I. She
whispered quietly to the ceiling. “Are you awake?”
‘Yes.’
“Something isn’t right.”
‘That much is evident. Do you know what it is this time.’
“No. It’s just like before. I just feel that something is going to happen.
…Something bad, but I don’t know what. It just feels like it will be soon; today.”
We were both talking to the ceiling in hushed tones. The lights were down at the
night setting. Not fully off, because that would be unreasonably dark. The lights
were at a very low level so that I could just make out her shape if I happened to
look in that direction. I was not looking of course, I was trying to be asleep.
Her warm hand snaked across my naked chest. We never wore garments to bed,
which was very convenient for times like this. There was nothing to hold us back,
to get in the way. We could be in direct skin to skin contact in a moment. Oh, I
don’t necessarily mean penetrative contact, although that wouldn’t be ruled out, I
just mean touching each other. There is something comforting about being in bed
with a lover and being able to touch her skin, to feel her warmth, at any time.
“Joran, I need you close to me.”
This was not something that needed a verbal response. I was there for her, I
would always be there for her. I just slid closer to her and held her to me. She was
hot. Not just warm like normal but hot. She slid her hands up and down my skin.
Each movement bringing that part of my skin alive with energy. Soon my whole
body was awake and alert and my hands began to work on the non-critical parts of
her skin.
Her mouth was now brought into play and she started alternately licking and
playfully biting my chest. Well, not biting exactly, she gathered up some flesh in
her mouth and nipped it a bit. I responded in kind. I was of course hard by this time
and she mounted me roughly, pinning my hands to the bed. She gave a few quick
thrusts then deliberately relinquished control and rolled us over so that I was on
top.
Only experienced lovers could play games like this. We knew how the other
would act and react so well that we could play like this without separating, without
breaking the love bond. She was boisterous that day and we were rolling and
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thrusting as never before. In fact we got too close to the edge of the bed in the heat
of passion. We were close to the edge of the bed and the orgasm. I’m not sure if we
came just as we fell off the bed or as we landed on the floor. Either way, I landed
on top of her, but still inside. It knocked the wind out of both of us and we were
done.
Fortunately neither of us were injured and we just lay on the floor giggling until
the alarm went off a few minutes later. As I struggled up to the bed to turn off the
alarm, she slipped off to the shower. She showered whilst I crashed out, face down
on the bed. After sex, Filicia seemed to want a shower and I just wanted to sleep;
this is the natural way of things I suppose.
I came too when the lights were turned up to normal brightness and Filicia was
shaking me by the arm. “Come on Master Technician, hit the shower. You’ve got a
job to go to.”
Through bleary eyes I saw that she was already dressed in that lacy number and
she looked even more radiant than usual. Perhaps that was just because she was
standing between me and the light, and perhaps its because my eyes weren’t yet
adjusted to the light. Call me a romantic, but she always looked radiant to me.
All concern over the possible events of that day was washed away, even before I
entered the shower. The shower just restored some of the life force to me. After
that a bowl of Sunrise Surprise and I was ready for the new day. We ate breakfast
together and she was just the most beautiful breakfast companion you could
imagine. We didn’t talk, we just ate. She had a bit of a head start on me in the
eating, but I still finished first. She was just delicately nibbling rather than eating.
I never could understand why such a sophisticated woman would be interested
in a coarse farmer like me. This was just curiosity you understand, I would never
ask her such a question. After all, if she suddenly realised that I was just a rough
manual labourer, she might want to try someone else. Bah! Such foolishness. She
was all mine. How could I ever doubt myself, or her for that matter?
She finished her breakfast and in one smooth continuous motion she slid away
and up from the table, taking the remains of the cereal packaging with her. It fell
silently down the rubbish chute as she gathered me up in her arms and kissed me
full on the lips. “I have to go now. I’ll see you this evening.”
I had barely recovered my breath from the kiss, when she was practically at the
door. I gave her a short wave of my hand as she moved out of my sight around the
door. I was a lucky dog to have a woman like that!
The day at work passed peacefully and I returned home in the evening pleasantly
rested. The work was not physically hard, so I could rest at work after the exertions
of the week-end. It could be very tiring being with a woman like Filicia. She had
seemingly boundless energy. Sometimes I had a job keeping up with her, if you
know what I mean.
It was time for food and yet she hadn’t arrived; funny, as she was normally back
before me. I waited, it wouldn’t do me any harm to wait for my meal. I waited and
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still she didn’t come. The clock on the wall was showing that it was time to go to
bed. I hadn’t eaten, but that was no longer of any concern. Where was she? I had
been pacing up and down. I couldn’t settle; couldn’t relax and watch the Vid. I
knew something was wrong now, but how wrong?
Where could I go to find out? It struck me that I didn’t know. Probably the
person who arranged things like this for the City was actually Filicia. To whom do
you report the fact that the head of the missing persons bureau is missing? I had no
contact with any City officials; hell, as far as my technicians were concerned, I was
a City official.
My orders all came in by computer. I never actually saw my superior. In fact it
could have been a man, or a woman, or a computer for that matter, and I wouldn’t
have known. Filicia presumably reported that we were a couple to somebody, but
she never told me who or how. And now I was paying the price for my ignorance. I
had no friend to turn to, no one to help me. I was alone. Filicia had always been
there to help me and now she was gone. What would I do?
She had her own key now so there was not a problem about me going out and
her not being able to get in. Perhaps she had fallen in a corridor and needed my
help. I grabbed my Balance card and dashed towards the door. Just as it opened, I
realised my mistake. If I left and she came back and found me gone, she would
probably go out looking for me. I turned on my heel and headed back to the
kitchen.
Something to write on; this was a problem. I didn’t have any reason to write
anything so there was no pen and paper to hand. In fact I had not seen any such
thing since I had been here. Indeed it was only the teacher training that made it
possible for me to read and write, but there had never been any practical need for
the writing part of it.
A food packet, that would do the trick. I selected a bag of biscuits. I ripped the
bag open rather hastily and clumsily, causing the biscuits to go everywhere. No
matter. I grabbed a few up from the table and stuffed them into my mouth as I
smoothed out the bag. The biscuits informed my body that food was available and
it greedily consumed biscuits at every opportunity. I was trying to think whilst my
hands, with a mind of their own, fed biscuits into my mouth. The inside of the bag
was a good surface to write on. What could I use to write with?
In desperation the only thing I could think of was Filicia’s lip pen. She would
probably kill me for ruining her lip pen, but at this stage of the game I would be
happy to accept the wrath of her tongue. Any communication from her would be
welcome. Leaving the bag where it was, I rushed into the bedroom and retrieved
the lip pen.
My writing didn’t look as nice as the printed words on the Vid screen, but then
since I had never written in my life, it seemed like a pretty good first attempt to me.
“BACK SOON. STAY HERE. J”
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Short and relatively readable. This done I grabbed up some more biscuits and
stuffed them in my pockets as I headed out the door. It was dark outside the
apartment. Not totally black, but the lighting was very low. Of course, it was
simulated night time and very few people would be on duty. The City slept and the
power was conserved. I remembered that the lighting level changed throughout the
day to simulate a daily cycle. This was all part of the program to allow people to
live in space indefinitely.
I was unused to being in the corridors at night. There were shadows now and
everything seemed different. I reached the square and it was eerie. Even sound
seemed to travel differently. There was nobody in sight, but that in itself was not
particularly unusual. It is just that during the day there was an expectation that
even if there was nobody there right that second, then somebody might appear very
shortly. Now the expectation was very different. I was alone.
I wandered the corridors all night. I kept returning to the apartment every so
often, but there was no change. She had not come home. On my final visit to the
apartment I saw from the clock on the wall that it was time to get up. I realised that
I was exhausted. Funny. This should have been obvious, but I had been running on
nervous energy alone. I had consumed the last of the biscuits in my pocket as I had
wandered the corridors and more than anything else I was dry.
It only took a moment at the tap to quench this thirst as I considered my next
move. I had to go to work and I had to be functional there. I needed to eat. I forced
myself to eat breakfast although the food had no taste. I ate like an automaton until
the packet was empty.
I used the toilet facility, splashed some water on my face and headed off to
work. I could work out what to do after I had got the technicians going. It was a
simple matter to check out the work schedules and hand out the epads. I had done
it a hundred times before; I could do it in my sleep.
I returned to the Master Console and studied the line-up for today. The chair was
very comfortable, with full support at the back and sides. I looked at the screen and
the numbers and letters started to blur…
It was lunch time when I finally awoke. Shit! I checked the screen and handled
some high priority jobs that had arrived. I then picked up my toolkit and headed
up-town. I had some jobs waiting for me there.
Fortunately the up-town jobs only took a couple of hours and I took the
opportunity to walk around the up-town corridors. No sign of her. Well why would
there be? If she had fallen in a well-used corridor then somebody would have
found her and reported it to … well I don’t know who one would report such a
thing too. I guess if it happened to me, I would just key it into my epad and let it
tell me what to do.
I returned to my apartment as usual and she had not arrived. The biscuits on the
floor were where I had left them. They crunched under-foot as I walked around the
room. This would not do. I needed to keep up my strength. I needed to eat
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properly. I had skipped lunch in order to catch up, after having fallen asleep for the
entire morning. A proper meal was in order.
I selected the most nutritious meal I could find in the cupboard and prepared it
right away. To hell with the biscuits on the floor. They could wait. I shovelled the
food into my mouth with no particular subtlety. This was an exercise in survival,
not a culinary delight. I had a job to do. I needed to search the areas where Filicia
might be trapped or hurt, where she wouldn’t be found by anybody for a long time.
The emergency air-lock; the hyper-spatial generators; the food factory roof space. I
checked them all that evening but to no avail.
I was out of ideas and out of energy. I returned to my apartment well after bed
time and turned in. I couldn’t think straight any longer. I needed rest to be
effective. It was a fitful night’s rest, but it was a rest at any rate. I showered in the
morning and this restored some of my physical energy if not my spirit.
The biscuits in the kitchen crunched under foot again and I decided to clean
them up. I had no excuse not to, really. Then, with breakfast done, I was ready for
another day on the job. No plans had materialised during the night. I was alone and
lost with no help coming.
It was mid-morning before I realised that I had one friend left. The old man. He
would help me. Strictly speaking he was Filicia’s friend, but he had got me my
blue collar and he seemed friendly. If anybody could help it would be him.
I didn’t lock up the shop properly in my rush to get to the old man’s workshop. I
had to catch him before lunch as he moved up-town after lunch and I didn’t know
where to exactly.
I didn’t run down the corridor, but I was moving sufficiently fast to be out of
breath when I arrived. I burst into the old man’s shop without pausing. He was
sitting at his bench tinkering as usual. As he looked up at me I sputtered out the
words.
‘Where’s Filicia.’
“What do you mean, where’s Filicia? She’s with you isn’t she?”
I couldn’t speak any more. I had to catch my breath.
“When did you last see her?”
‘Not this morning, nor the morning before, but the one before that.’
“Hmm, this doesn’t look good.”
‘She had a premonition that something bad would happen and it has.’
“Hrmpf. Don’t give me any of that superstitious clap-trap boy. If she is missing
then there is a reason for it. It may take me some time to find out anything. You go
back to work and come back tomorrow. I should know what happened by then.”
I must have looked pained by this answer because he continued.
“Don’t look at me like that. If anything can be done then I will do it. There is no
sense in you worrying about it. If she isn’t dead, then I will find out where she is, I
promise you.”
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That was not a very comforting statement. The day trudged on slowly and when
I returned to my apartment to spend another night alone, it was more than I could
stand. Rather than eat, I started training; harder than I had ever done before. All the
strength that I had used in making love to her had nowhere else to go. All the fear,
all the anger, all the despair was vented fighting an imaginary enemy. Or perhaps I
should say an intangible enemy. Shadow boxing the shapeless form of a created
opponent which seemed more and more real as I continued.
It’s funny that now my friend, my lover and my confidante had been taken from
me the old thoughts returned. I remembered vividly my first wife, my village, my
Homeworld, my unborn child, and of course Filicia. Hate is a terrible thing; it
consumes you. I had love flowing out of every pore of my body only a few days
before. In the space of a few hours my world had been turned upside down and
inside out again. The love had nothing to bounce off and return to me. It just
dissipated and inverted. Now there was anger and hate permeating my soul.
Whereas everything had seemed wonderful, now everything seemed tainted. This
was just my perception of the world of course, but it was very real to me. I needed
Filicia back with me. To not have her back would have been to invite certain
destruction upon myself and anyone near me.
Again I spent a fitful night in bed, wondering what the old man would be able to
tell me tomorrow. He had said not to come until mid-morning as before, to give
him the best chance of finding out what had happened. It was hard waiting at the
Vid screen at work, trying not to leave and rush over to his workshop. Too hard. I
went early; I just couldn’t hold out any longer.
He was sitting hunched over his work bench as usual. I don’t know what it was
he did all day, but he always seemed to be busy doing something. He didn’t look
pleased to see me. He got me to sit down and told me some news. I couldn’t think,
I couldn’t function. I just returned to my maintenance shop in a daze and stayed
there until it was time to go home.
Back in the peace of my own apartment I started training again. It was the only
way to stem the rising pain and anger. My senses had been numb and now they
were gradually coming back on line. The pain was beginning to grow, not lessen.
I rained kicks and punches on my intangible shadow enemy. The speed and
power of the moves was frightening to me. I was detached from this killing
machine which I called my body. I was back up to full combat potential now, more
deadly than I had ever been before. It would not be pleasant to think of anybody
coming between me and Filicia now. I was ready!
The next day was my week-end and now I had a chance to check out the news I
had heard about Filicia. The old man had come up with the goods. She was in Zone
5 in the ‘pleasure house’. I had not been in Zone 5 very long, but I didn’t think that
there was very much pleasure to be had there.
The old man had told me that it was too late; that she would no longer even
know me. She had had her attitude adjusted and now she was no longer a sentient
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being. He told me not to look for her, not to find her. He said that if I found her, it
would only increase my misery.
I was miserable and I felt that I could not get any more miserable; I had nothing
to lose. I was going to find her; there was just no way she could have forgotten me.
And if she had, then I would help her to remember, or I would remember for the
both of us. In any case we were going to be together again and woe betide any man
or woman or Founder that should try to stop me.
I went to the Zone 5 bulkhead and keyed it open. The guards there expressed no
comment on a Blue going into the White sector. What business was it of theirs
anyway? Their darkened visors meant that any facial reactions that they may have
had would be kept to themselves in any case.
I found myself walking around the corner of the office, her office, and into the
Teacher chamber where I had risen to the exalted rank of a Green all those
millennia ago. It was empty now and it seemed very different to how I remembered
it. In fact it was worse. I had not realised quite how dirty and smelly the place was.
The air reeked of urine and vomit. The walls were caked with years of grime that
nobody had bothered to clean off. There were numerous blown bulbs and the
overall lighting level was very poor.
I traversed the hall and came to the main entrance. The automatic door was
jammed. When I approached, it strained to open for me, but just vibrated and
stayed where it was. It was jammed about three quarters open anyway, so there was
no problem getting out. I realised that I did not know my way around this sector,
but how hard could it be?
Evidently it could be quite hard. Not only did I not know my way around, but
neither did the other occupants of the Zone. I encountered several of the
unfortunate inhabitants of this sector and they invariably hid their faces and
mumbled that they didn’t know and scuttled off as quickly as possible.
After these unsuccessful encounters and a seeming age of wandering aimlessly
around, I found myself back at the Teacher room. This was no good. I had to be
more methodical and use the knowledge of the City that Filicia had taught me. If I
had her photographic memory it would have been easy, but I had to do it the hard
way. In the beginning, every week-end Filicia had me marching up and down
corridors and testing me. Which way was the outer hull? Which way was the
square? Which way was the emergency air lock? Where was the entrance to Zone
3? Where was the exit to Zone 5? But that was a long time ago and my memory
had faded a bit.
I had wanted to make a map. That was the obvious thing to do, but she wouldn’t
hear of it. It was too dangerous. If anybody was found making or being in
possession of a map they would be killed immediately. She had made me promise
not to make a map and she helped me to memorise the corridors the hard way.
She was a hard task-master. She never said why she wanted me to know this
stuff, she just insisted on it. There was to be no argument and no discussion. I
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couldn’t argue with her anyway. She was the only light in my life and without her I
would be in darkness. And I was surely in darkness now. Every time I thought of
her training, I thought of her, and that gave me some comfort.
When I pushed her as to why we were doing this corridor-walking, she would
only say that it was necessary and that it would come in useful one day; that I
should trust her. Was today the day? I started a search of the section more
methodically, keeping a track of when I turned and by how much. It would have
been easy if the City had been laid out on a rectangular grid but it was not. The
corridors curved and twisted. Sometimes they ended up in dead-ends. Filicia had
explained that this was part of the City’s defences. There were no maps accessible
to intruders, so there was a great deal of difficulty in boarding the ship and getting
to the Founders. Yes, if it was being boarded, it became a ship. This acknowledged
the existence of an outside.
I had learned to remember how much I had turned. This technique meant I could
retain my bearings and know which direction I was heading in, a vital skill. It was
mid-morning before I had completed my search of this part of the Zone. No joy. It
looked like I would have to try the other side of the Dome, the other end of the
ship.
I knew that there were passage ways on both sides of the Zone, so this side was
as good a place to start as the other. I retraced my steps to the corridor that seemed
to offer the best hope of heading past the Dome. It was a long and featureless
corridor with most of its lights broken. The very featurelessness of the corridor
encouraged me to think that I was heading in the correct direction.
Soon there were corridors branching off on only one side of me only. Naturally,
because the other side would lead out through the hull. My luck was in; I met a
Yellow at last. I was tired and I was hungry and I was in no mood to be messed
about. I was very direct with the guy. ‘Do you know where the pleasure house is?’
He was scared. “Yes sir.”
Fair enough. He was very scared. I frankly didn’t give a damn. I had business
here and I didn’t have all day. ‘Good. Take me there.’
He was evidently heading in the other direction. Tough. He looked at my collar
and I glared at him. He got the message. “Yes sir.”
He did a quick ‘about face’ and marched off down the corridor at a fair pace. I
wasn’t about to complain, even though the pace was faster than I was really
comfortable with. I must admit that following him and thinking of her caused me
to lose my bearings completely. Too bad. I had a guide now. We very rapidly
arrived at my destination and my guide directed me in.
He stayed outside, and as I entered by the already open door I turned to thank
him; he was already haring off down the corridor at a prodigious speed. No matter.
I entered the room with a mix of excitement and reservation. What would I find in
here? Would she be here? Would she recognise me?
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I was greeted by a depressing sight. There were about a dozen women sitting on
benches along each of the long walls of the room on either side of me. They were
staring blankly into space, and were dressed in one piece smocks just like the one I
was given when I first arrived in Zone 5. None of them was wearing a collar. This
made sense. Why would they need one? I was also reminded of the ranking
scheme; no collar was the lowest of them all.
There was a man sitting behind a desk, a Yellow. When he saw me come in, he
hastened to get up and come over to me.
“I think you took a wrong turn, sir. This is a pleasure house for the White
workers. The unattached White females are available for selection in a room
further down the corridor. Perhaps I can show you.”
His arm invited me to turn around and go back out the way I had come in. I was
visibly unmoved by his approach. ‘You don’t object to me looking these ones over
first do you?’
He looked a bit shocked at my frontal assault. I hadn’t asked him for permission;
I neither needed it, nor wanted it. I was merely allowing him to understand that I
was not to be swayed. He back-pedalled immediately.
“You are of course welcome to inspect them, sir.”
In my brief inspection of the room I did not see her. I could not afford to make
any mistakes. I started on the left side and went to each woman in turn. She would
look a lot different with her hair cut short, with no pretty dress and with no smile
on her face.
I spent an age going down the line, occasionally lifting up a head so I could look
upon a face which had been staring at the floor. I finished the left side and went to
the right; same procedure. As I was getting towards the end of the line my anxiety
was growing. I couldn’t help peeking a glance at the women up ahead and I was
pretty sure she wasn’t one of them. I had to be sure.
I inspected the last in the line; it wasn’t her. My heart sank. What was I going to
do? I hesitated and the Yellow returned to hover over me.
“Perhaps I can show you the un-adjusted women now sir. These ones are not for
you sir. These women are only good for fucking, and they’re not much good at
that. They’re a real liability to have around. You can’t even order them to eat or
wash themselves; you have to break it down into simple actions. Every move they
make you have to order explicitly. Except for urinating and defecating. They just
do that whenever or wherever they are. They take a lot of cleaning up after, sir. If
you forget to tell them to eat something, they just die of starvation. Hell, they don’t
live all that long even if you look after them well. The longest I have ever known
one to live is about a year.”
I listened to this in a daze. Where was she? Had I been given wrong
information? I needed to know for sure. ‘Are there any others here?’
He hesitated for a moment. “Well, there are the ones who are entertaining
currently. Five of them. That’s all.”
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There was still hope then. ‘Ok, I’ll wait.’
Now he was really taken aback. I’d wait. He had never heard of such an idea. He
looked around embarrassed as to what to do with me. He could see nowhere but his
own desk and I could see the cogs whirring in his mind. What was he to do? He
decided to play safe. “Perhaps you would like to sit down whilst you wait sir.”
He motioned to his desk. The chair was quite hard, but it was cleaner than the
benches. I took a seat and surveyed the room. It had been totally quiet, but the
silence was broken by what sounded like water dripping from a tap. I could not
locate the source, but the keeper could.
“Oh, not again!”
He went over to one of the women and put his hand on her shoulder. “You.
Stand up.” She stood up in the puddle of urine that she had been leaking. “Step
forward three steps.” She stepped forward three steps like the robot that she was.
The keeper went to the corner of the room and dragged a hose pipe down the
length of the room. He moved a lever on the end of the pipe and hosed down the
floor and the bench into a gutter that ran down the sides of the room. Evidently this
room was specifically designed for these people.
He shut off the water then turned his attention to the woman. “Remove your
robe … put it on the floor.” She lifted the rough cloth garment over her head
exposing herself completely, as she was wearing nothing underneath. Her breasts
sagged and her skin tone was pallid. She was not attractive like this, not at all. He
turned the water back on at a low setting and sprayed the lower half of her body
very efficiently and professionally. He left her there, dripping, and dragged the
hose and the robe to the back of the room. The robe went down a chute and a new
one was extracted from a hidden cupboard. He took the robe back to the woman
and offered it to her. She just stood there staring blankly.
“Take the robe.” She took the robe.
“Put on the robe.” She put it on.
“Sit down on the bench.” She sat down on the bench and the keeper returned to
the back of the room. As he passed me, he looked at me as if to say ‘I told you so’.
Just then a couple emerged from one of the rooms. Well, not a couple on closer
inspection. He held her arm and guided her down the corridor. He had a big grin on
his face; she was blank faced and unmoved. He stopped and let go of the woman.
With a nod to the keeper he shuffled off down the room.
The keeper guided the woman over to the corner of the room where there was a
drain cover set into the floor. He produced a small squeezy bottle from a rack and
discretely lifted her robe and squirted the fluid in and around her genitalia. He then
produced a cloth and gently wiped her down. He seemed to be treating this one
with more respect than the one who had just wet herself. When he had finished, he
lowered the robe and guided her back to one of the benches. I noticed now that
they were seated far enough apart that if one wet herself, then the ones either side
would not also need cleaning.
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Another pair emerged and the cleaning procedure was repeated. There was a
pause in the activity and I just sat thinking back to the times I had spent with
Filicia. What would I do if she was like these others?
I had been seated for too long, so I just stretched my legs a bit by walking down
the room. As I turned to head back up the room another pair emerged. The white-
collared man was hustling the woman down the corridor very roughly. There was
drool dribbling down the side of her mouth and her head was bowed. Her eyes
were dull, her hair was cut short and her face was bruised, but it was her. There
could be no doubt, even from this distance. I headed back up the room to meet her.
The man saw the keeper and started shouting. “This one is no bloody use. She
keeps dribbling and she pissed herself while I was on her.”
The keeper was not conciliatory. “I did warn you that this one was no good. I
heard about her when she was normal and nobody ever got anywhere with her
then; nobody. Everyone tried to get her to respond and nobody ever succeeded.
What chance has anyone got now? She is just a cold-hearted good-for-nothing
waste of fucking space.”
I was approaching them as this conversation was going on. The guy was not
amused and my anger was also rising moment by moment. “You know, I could
swear she dribbled and wet herself deliberately, just to piss me off. Bitch!”
This final word he punctuated by swinging his flat hand out and slapping into
her nose, hard. I was too far away to stop him. She fell to the ground with blood
coming out of her nose. I saw red.
I was still far too far away to stop him, to protect her. A single slip step got me
in range for a side-kick to his right knee. It cracked and buckled under this
merciless onslaught and he grunted with pain. I wasn’t finished with him yet. A
right hand back-fist to the side of his head and he was on his way down to the
ground. In one smooth continuous movement, my right hand grabbed his hair and
with full body weight behind my left arm, I vented all my anger and frustration into
my left hand. The chop to his neck caused an audible cracking sound in his neck
and I released his limp body to fall to the ground. I had no doubt that he was dead,
even before the keeper knelt beside him and checked.
The keeper looked at me and my anger was draining away rapidly. I had used the
Old Knowledge to kill someone who really didn’t deserve to die for his actions. At
the time he had personified all that was evil and wrong with this place. Everything
I hated and wanted to get revenge on. I was shamed by this misuse of the ancient
wisdom, but this was no time for grieving. I just looked at the keeper. ‘I hate
people who abuse women. Well, it looks like you’ve got more mess to clean up.’
The keeper nodded to me and unenthusiastically got to his feet. He quickly went
over to Filicia and I was with him by the time he reached her. We both helped her
to her feet. The blood from her nose was not flowing, it was just a trickle. He
ordered her to remove her robe and he repeated the hosing operation that I had
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seen earlier. He provided her with a clean robe before wiping away the blood from
under her nose.
He then produced the squeezy bottle and was going to go through the inner
cleaning ritual. I didn’t say anything, I just put my hand out for the bottle. I had
seen him do it twice now; I knew what needed to be done. I squirted the milky
white fluid around and inside the important areas and accepted the cloth, when
offered, to do the final clean up. She was ready to go so I went around to her other
side and took her arm.
I looked at the keeper. ‘This one is coming with me.’
He didn’t say much. His eyes said ‘You are welcome to her’, but his speech was
somewhat more restrained. This may have been because I had just dispatched
somebody who displeased me, and he didn’t want to displease me. “Yes sir.”
I didn’t push my luck by getting him to give me directions, I just wanted to get
the hell out of there whilst the getting was good. It was a long trip around the
corridors, but we eventually found our way back to the same bulkhead that I had
entered by. I didn’t expect any trouble from the guards because I was a Blue taking
a White woman into Zone 4. The reason was obvious; there should be no problem.
Had we been going into Zone 2 that would have been a different matter.
One of the guards saw my Blue collar and activated the bulkhead as we
approached. The body language of the other guard was hard to gauge, until he
stepped in front of the now open doorway and stopped me.
“Hey, wait a minute, where’s her collar?”
My mistake. She was not a White being transported to Zone 4; that would have
been common place. She was without a collar. That was very unusual. I was a bit
off balance because of the guard’s actions, but I had come too far to be put off
now. ‘Look again. She’s been adjusted, she doesn’t need a collar anymore.’
He looked at her through his mirrored visor and slowly removed the black glove
from his right hand. In a sudden unexpected burst of speed he lifted up her robe
and his un-gloved hand plunged towards her lower entrance. His finger dived in
violently, but she showed no slightest reaction. His finger was extracted with an
equal speed and he let the robe fall back down. “Ugh!”
He held his finger up to the light to inspect the white fluid on it. “Ugh!”
The fluid wasn’t what he thought, of course, but that didn’t bother me in the
slightest. Let him be revolted. That was fine with me. My anger had been vented
on the last guy who abused her. I had no violence left in me, for now. I was just
keyed-up to move, so I pushed the guard aside and towed Filicia through the open
doorway. ‘Get out of my way and stop wasting my time.’ Strangely enough, this
arrogant behaviour was to be expected from a Blue, so my actions would not have
seemed out of the ordinary.
I didn’t look back; I didn’t give the guard any chance to protest my action. I just
kept going and didn’t stop until the bulkhead was a distant memory.
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We arrived back at our apartment quite quickly after this, and the first order of
business was a shower. I removed her robe and guided her into the shower. ‘Take a
shower.’
I left the cubicle and the water started as the door closed, but she did nothing.
The musical water cascaded around her stationary form, but she did not act or react
to it. I remembered what the keeper had said. No complex actions. I stripped off
my clothes, throwing them carelessly across the floor. As I opened the shower door
the water automatically cut off. I stepped into the shower and shut the door behind,
automatically re-starting the whole shower cycle. It was quite a tight fit in the
shower; after all, it was designed for one person, not two. The water managed to
find its way onto both of us, despite the cramped conditions and I started to work
the soap into her hair. I talked to her as I worked. I told her how I had missed her
and how glad I was she was back, but there was no acknowledgement, no response,
nothing.
I left the soap in her hair whilst I rubbed soap into the non-personal parts of her
body; her arms, legs and torso were soon cleaned off. I then flushed the soap out of
her hair. It somehow seemed indecent to wash her bum, breasts and genitals, but it
had to be done.
I cleaned her rear and there were only her breasts and genitals remaining. I
rubbed the soap into her breasts, working them around methodically. It reminded
me of when we had been together so many times before. I couldn’t help becoming
erect although there was no equivalent response from her nipples. It seemed
indecent, taking advantage, but I excused myself, saying that she was my wife in
all but name and she wouldn’t mind.
I guided her to the wall, my free hand still massaging her breasts and I
penetrated her. Again and again I thrust, but it had no effect upon her. This made
me thrust harder and faster, trying to elicit a response. None was forthcoming, not
from her at least. My bodily fluid pulsed into her and whilst it was a release, it
wasn’t truly satisfying. She had not participated, so there could be no great joy in
that. I could understand the frustration the others must have felt when she didn’t
respond to them.
There was only a short interval of water left to wash us down before the cycle
turned to dry and the hot air jets did their work. I pulled the comb from its slot and
combed out her hair and mine before the air jets dried our hair into an
unmanageable tangle. We were both soon dry and tidy and we emerged from the
shower to stand naked in the middle of the room.
Her clothes were still in the apartment and I selected something nice for her to
wear. It was quite a struggle getting them on her, but she looked much better now
that she was properly attired. I seated her on the edge of the bed whilst I put my
clothes back on and then knelt on the floor facing her; holding her hands in mine.
‘Filicia, I thought I’d lost you. You are the light of my life and if you were to be
taken from me forever I couldn’t stand it. I think I would die of a broken heart.
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You’re here with me now and nobody is going to take you from me again, I
promise. I want you back Filicia, I need you to come back to me. I know that you
are in a distant place and that you may have trouble hearing me. That’s alright. I
know you are doing your best. You are a fighter Filicia, you are strong; you can
do it if anybody can. Come back to me my love.’
Tears had been pouring down my face. I don’t know when they started, but I
suddenly became aware of them. I was feeling sorry for myself when I should be
thinking of her. Having moved my attention back to her, I noticed a single tear
forming in her eye, and as I watched it dribbled down her face. I grabbed her hand
and wet her finger tips in my tears. ‘You can hear me. You can. Oh my darling.’
I grabbed her and held her tight.
After an indeterminate time I let her go and guided her to lie on the bed. I went
around the other side and lay down beside her. I held her hand and told her to close
her eyes and rest. I did the same.
I awoke sometime later and told her to open her eyes and get up. She was a bit
sluggish about this, so I assumed that she had been asleep too. This was good. She
undoubtedly needed the rest. I got her to stand up and guided her through to the
kitchen. When she was safely seated I inspected my stock of food and selected
something suitable for us both.
The food packages were all individual, so I just prepared two of the same. This
was a mistake. I hadn’t realised that she would not be able to eat. When the food
was prepared, I opened both packets and left a spoon in hers ready to start. I
checked the temperature of the food; it was fine. ‘Eat the food.’
No response. ‘Please eat the food.’
No response. ‘Pick up the spoon and eat the food.’
No response. ‘Here, do it like this.’
No response.
I then started making exaggerated motions to show her what to do. These would
have looked comical to anyone watching, but my heart was breaking seeing her
like this. I had barely eaten a few mouthfuls, but she had eaten none. This was not
working.
I moved over beside her and spooned a glob of food into her mouth. I had
picked a very plain food item that had no lumps of solid that could choke her. I put
the food into her mouth, first instructing her to open her mouth then, after the food
was in, telling her to close it. Having done this, I told her to chew then to swallow,
which she obediently did. This was going to be a long job.
After an eternity she had eaten the contents of the container. I returned to mine
because I realised that I was hungry too. Mine was not only cold, it was ruined and
had to be thrown away. I selected something else from the cupboard and prepared
it for myself. When I was done, I felt refreshed.
Filicia had been sitting there where I left her. What was I going to do? How
could I penetrate the veil of unconsciousness that clouded her mind? I recalled a
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lesson from my uncle. He described how a soldier could become disorientated
when struck on the head and that the recovery could be assisted if the person were
made to move about. It put them back in touch with the muscles and nerve paths
throughout their body. This was my best shot. She could move her muscles, but not
under her own volitional control. Ok. I would command her muscles until she got
used to the idea that they could be moved, then she might be able to do it on her
own.
She could see, that was evident. She seemed to lack the will power to make her
eyes move about though. I told her to stand and she complied. I walked her through
to the Vid room. ‘Ok, Filicia, I am going to help you find your way back to me. I
am going to give you commands and you are going to see what has to be done to
make your body move. Then what you have to do is to make that same motion or
action yourself.’
I gave her a command, very simple and very explicit, and I stood facing her
doing the same motion, but as a mirror image. Thus when I said ‘lift your right
arm’ she lifted her right arm, but I lifted my left. There was no problem in
following my voice commands, but she could not do any of the ‘follow me’ type of
actions. If she had to look at what I did and do the same, she would just do
nothing.
I continued with the verbal commands and she seemed to be getting along well,
but we would only be able to go so far with this method. Also, there was going to
be a serious problem when I had to go to work.
The clock on the wall was telling me that it was well into the rest period, so I
had to prepare us for bed. I took her to the toilet and got her to sit on it. She
responded well to the subsequent commands to use the facility fully. Well, at least
we shouldn’t have any toilet troubles this evening.
I settled us down in bed for the night and wondered what I would do tomorrow. I
realised that Filicia had been the strong one and had taken the lead in all our
activities. Now she was not able to do that anymore. It was down to me to take the
lead. She had shown me the ropes, shown me what to do; I could handle it.
I lay there awake for a while and considered what had happened those last few
days. I had very nearly been engulfed by anger. That was a very dark and lonely
place to be. I now had a mission; to bring Filicia back to the light, and in the
process I too would be restored to the light. Perhaps this doesn’t communicate to
you that well, all this business of the dark and the light. Well, I’m sorry. That is the
only way I can explain it. If you have been there then you will know immediately
what I’m talking about. Otherwise … , otherwise I hope you never have to find out
how bad the darkness can be.
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12 Lyra
It was a work day and I had to rush. I had to get both Filicia and myself fed and
watered in the time I normally had for just me. I was going to have to take a few
short-cuts. There was no time for any practise sessions with Filicia right now, I had
to get moving. I hadn’t slept much during the night, but I had worked out a plan.
The problem was that I needed to go to work and I also needed to go to Zone 5.
I needed help, and what better help than that from a Zone 5 woman. I could have
one freely and she would be grateful to get out of that Zone. She could look after
Filicia full time and continue with the work that I had started. It was probably
going to take weeks of effort to bring Filicia back, even if it was done full time. If
it was only done at the week-end then it would take years.
The trouble is that she did not have years; in fact it was probable that she only
had months. The pleasure house keeper had said that they only lasted a few
months, so if the conditioning could not be broken soon, she might die. My only
hope was that as the conditioning was gradually broken, the will to live would be
restored and her life expectancy would continuously increase. This would then
give me the time I needed.
Everything went to plan and I managed to leave the apartment on time, despite
the extra workload. I left Filicia sitting in a chair in the Vid room and rushed off to
work. Now that I was a Master Technician, I had four technicians working for me.
They did the work, all I had to do was to prioritise the jobs. It was no good having
a factory door jammed whilst the technicians went around changing light bulbs.
I arrived at my down-town maintenance shop in plenty of time to hand out the
epads. It was fortunate that today was not a ‘double day’. There were five
down-town maintenance shops. I used to work at one of the others as a Technician
and now I ran this one. When I had a week-end, the Master Technician of one of
the other shops came over and handed out the epads to my staff and vice versa. It
meant that the jobs done on my week-end were all old ones, apart from new high
priority jobs that the computer automatically assigned in my absence. There was
always a backlog of work, as a technician had pointed out to me a long time ago.
What was his name?
This handing out of the epads was just a sort of assertiveness ritual really. I
didn’t see any point to it. The epads themselves had no data in them. All that
happened is that when they were activated by the insertion of a Balance card, they
were sent the most current work order from the Master Scheduler. This could be
changed during the day, and frequently was, allowing urgent jobs to be done more
quickly.
There was a list of criteria to sort out jobs. A bulb in the apartment of a Blue
clearly took precedence over a bulb in the apartment of a Yellow, even if the
Yellow had been waiting for a month or more. Doors not opening was a high
priority and really ought to be done that same day. It was a very involved hierarchy
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and if it weren’t for the Teacher training of the list, it would have been difficult to
master. Clearly things in down-town took priority over most things in Zone 5. That
is why technicians almost never strayed into that area.
My job was not only to prioritise work though. I also had to do work up-town. It
was all the same sort of work really, it was just snobbery to use a Master
Technician to change bulbs in the up-town area. Well the pay was better and you
could wander off the path without getting your epad whining at you, so it did have
its advantages. Obviously the key advantage, of having Filicia live with me, was
not an issue any more.
Another part of my job included inspection. I would take a job at random and go
to see how the technician handled it. When I had been a technician, the Master
Technician only inspected my work once. This was more a perfunctory inspection
than anything else. It was about time I inspected someone’s work.
I did not have the time to wander the corridors of the White Zone today. I
needed someone to lead me there. Since there was only one bulkhead between
Zones 4 and 5, the technician would have to pass that way. If I sent someone to fix
something near where I wanted to go, I could tag along and pick up a woman on
my way back. This way I would be absent from my post for a minimal period.
I needed a long job to be done in Zone 5 and I also had to clear up the priority
jobs that had come in during my rest day. The Master Scheduler didn’t have any
names on it. It simply had the technicians’ ID numbers and the list of jobs for each
individual. I pulled up the work schedules for all four technicians onto the screen
at once. It was a large Vid screen so I could easily see all the detail that I needed.
Each job was also annotated with an estimated job time, collated from previous
experiences and from the past performance of the individual technician.
I also displayed the current list of tasks pending. Fortunately the computer was
also programmed with most of the rules for the prioritisation of jobs so the data
was pre-sorted. It needed a skilled Master Technician to get the final ordering
optimised in terms of selecting which technician did which job, but the computer
was helping a lot. There were only four top priority jobs to be done, so I assigned
them to three of the technicians and forced an update. These would be their next
assignments after their current one was done. Clearly one technician pulled two
priority jobs, but then I gave him the two shortest, easiest ones, to balance up the
time.
The computer was monitoring the performance of all of the technicians. It
recorded the motions of the epad specifically and therefore it knew how long the
technician had actually been at the site repairing the fault. It had an alarm system.
If the technician took too long to get to a particular place compared to its standard
calculated time, it would complain. If the technician had been at a particular job
too long, it would also flag an alert. It has to be said that the times were quite
generous now. I had increased them all so that I did not keep getting false alarms.
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The technician I had chosen to go to Zone 5 was fairly new so he would not be
suspicious of my motivations for getting something fixed in Zone 5. I needed a
fairly big job in Zone 5, and somewhere near where the women were quartered. I
scanned down the list of jobs, looking for Zone 5 jobs. The list was endless and
still none had been in there for Zone 5. There it was, item #2013= Fix the heater in
food preparation unit 3. It had been in the computer to be fixed for years. It was
about time they got some hot food!
I selected the item and dumped it into technician 27531’s work schedule and
activated the update. He would have finished the broken sensor job in
approximately three minutes according to the computer. Now there was no map of
his location, just a corridor sequence number. I didn’t know where he was. I just
had to get to the bulkhead before he did. I moved off in that direction, full of
anticipation. I wasn’t yet doing anything wrong, well not very wrong anyway, so I
should still be ok.
I had no time to look at the sights or dawdle in the corridors. I just marched at a
steady fast pace. Not so fast as to draw attention to myself, but fast enough to get
to the bulkhead before the technician.
I arrived at the closed bulkhead. Had the technician got there before me? There
was no way to know. I just had to put my faith in the calculations. I waited. I
waited some more. I had practically worn a hole in the metal floor pacing back and
forth and still he hadn’t arrived. I’d missed him. My plan had failed. I had failed.
What could I do now? In reality only a few minutes had elapsed in the rest of
Arslykus, whereas it seemed like days had elapsed in my world. I just had to calm
down.
I leant against the corridor wall and focused on my breathing; in - out - in - out.
The pattern of the breathing had shape and form. My breathing slowed down, my
heart rate slowed down. I was becoming calm and rested. There was nothing to do
but wait. No more planning, no more thinking, just calmness.
The technician arrived at the bulkhead, shattering my meditative state. My heart
started racing and my mind started racing with it. ‘I’ve come to do a routine
inspection of your work.’
He looked shocked. “Yes sir.”
I keyed the bulkhead open and with a hand gesture invited him to lead the way.
We walked straight past the guards and through the Teacher hall. The door at the
end of the hall was still jammed, of course, and he asked a silent question by
looking first at the door and then at me. ‘Why wasn’t he going to fix this door?’ He
had more sense than to ask such a question, but knowing this was the most likely
thing he would ask, I had prepared an answer. Fortunately it wasn’t needed so I
didn’t volunteer it.
The epad led us to a closet to pick up a new heating element then ‘straight’ to
the kitchen unit. Of course ‘straight’ meant going all around the houses; this area
of the City was even more convoluted than the rest. We had walked silently the
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whole way. Both of us were a bit scared; him because he was being inspected by
his boss and me because I was getting him to do a job which was completely off
the priority list for my own hidden reasons.
I watched him locate the offending cooking unit, pull off the covers and find the
defective unit. It was clearly defective as it was all charred in the middle. As he
dutifully put the new unit in place, I spotted a Yellow come into the room and
decided this was my ticket out of here. I took one last look at the work. ‘Splendid
work. Spot on. You passed your inspection. Carry on.’
I was perhaps a bit overly enthusiastic. I had to leave in a hurry because the
Yellow, a woman, was now leaving. I went after her at double quick pace. She was
only a few steps down the corridor when I intercepted her. I didn’t have time for
subtlety, or perhaps that is just an excuse and I had been getting pushy as a result
of being in this place. In any case the result was pretty brusque. ‘Stop!’
This achieved the desired result of getting her to stop and turn around. I sized
her up immediately, for no particular reason. I guess it was just a habit; not a good
habit, arguably, but a habit nonetheless. She was remarkably unattractive. Not fat,
not ugly, nothing you could put your finger on, just a lot of little things. An
unattractive figure, a plain face, lack-lustre hair and when she spoke it turned out
she had a rasping, grating sounding voice. “Yes sir.”
‘I would like to select a woman from the White group here. Where should I go?’
She looked at me strangely and I had the curious sensation that she was offering
herself to me in some way. She seemed to stand a bit straighter and brushed her
hair back in a way that she could easily have felt was appealing. Of course, since I
was two ranks above her, I could have just had her whether she wanted me or not.
As it happened, I did not. I could certainly see how the higher ranks could get
totally corrupted. To have such power over people could become addictive. I had
no natural desire to be like this, and yet I was pushing people around and I suppose
enjoying it to some degree.
She seemed to take an age to answer, what with brushing her hair back and
moistening her lips. I hope this was not just my wishful thinking. I didn’t know
how else to interpret her behaviour. “Let me take you there sir.”
Fair enough. Whatever. Perhaps she thought she would profit by it, because she
did seem unreasonably co-operative. Or perhaps she just wanted me to put my
attention on other women, so she would be relatively safer. In any case I was happy
with her decision. ‘Thank you.’
She started off down the corridor in the same direction that she had been going
anyway. We soon came to a large assembly hall, very much like the one where we
had been inoculated when we first arrived. It was empty of people, but had a few
tables and chairs scattered about. She motioned for me to take a seat.
“The women are all spread about working at the moment sir. If you’ll give me a
few minutes, I’ll get some of the assistant instructors to round them up for you.”
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I nodded assent as I seated myself on one of the chairs facing the centre of the
room. From this position I could see anybody coming and going very easily. I had
thought that this would have been easier, but that was just a lack of understanding
of the situation here. The women could hardly be expected to be all together in one
place waiting for me to select one of them. This was a gross lack of planning on
my part. But then again, the only thing I could have done is left myself more time,
and there was no way to have arranged it so that I had more time; no harm done.
The women arrived in small escorted groups. They sort of milled around at the
sides of the hall. Seeing them gathering reminded me of the time I had been in a
similar situation, when I first arrived. This hall was a mirror image of the one that I
had been in when the Founder had selected some of the boys to take with him. I
had a pretty good idea what the Founder wanted with those boys now, although at
the time I had no idea.
The Green in charge here was the Instructor and she came over to find out what I
wanted. I was a bit distracted, however, because as the Instructor came over, a
strikingly attractive woman walked into the room. I didn’t have a chance to look
her over though, because the Instructor was already speaking.
“I understand that you wish to select a woman sir.”
I stood up and put my attention on the speaker. She would have been quite
attractive, if it wasn’t for the hideous scar all down the left side of her face. It was
a very old scar and she saw me looking at it. I tried to avoid staring at the scar
whilst talking; the effort took its toll. ‘I want to select a woman.’
Oh, that wasn’t the right response to her statement. I could see in her eyes that I
had made a mistake. Oh so what. If I made a mistake then that was tough. There
wasn’t anything she could do about it as I outranked her. Whilst she was surprised
by my answer, a simple yes would have sufficed, she just carried on valiantly.
“Yes sir. Right away.”
She lined up the women, well girls mostly. There were about fifty of them.
When they were lined up, the woman ordered them to strip off their robes, which
they did with varying degrees of speed. They were all completely naked under the
robes and they stood in the long row, naked, awaiting selection. I hadn’t asked for
this, and frankly I was embarrassed by it, but I wasn’t about to let on to the
Instructor.
Some of them evidently wanted to be selected, as Filicia had suggested. These
stood straight and pushed out their breasts as well as they could. Others looked
downwards, crushed and humiliated. Wanting only for this ordeal to be over. And
there, shining like a jewel amongst the crowd, was a special woman. She was taller
than any other woman there by half the height of her head. She had firm strong
breasts and long sleek straight black hair. He skin was pure white, contrasting
heavily with her midnight black hair and eyes. Her eyes were so black you could
imagine light falling in and never coming back out.
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By comparison the others were shamed. They were ugly, skinny, saggy, scarred,
missing teeth, hairy, wrinkly; any and all combinations thereof. I wanted her. The
Instructor saw me staring and cautioned me.
“If you are thinking of the one with the long black hair, Lyra, I should caution
you sir that she has been returned here several times. The previous selectors
wouldn’t say what she did exactly, but they didn’t keep her for more than a few
hours. And when they brought her back, they were looking a bit the worse for
wear. I think she will need to be adjusted.”
I just glared at the Instructor. ‘That’s fine. I’ll take her.’
The Instructor ordered the women to put their clothes back on and pulled Lyra
off to one side. She pulled out an epad and held out her hand.
“May I have your Balance card please sir.”
What did she want my card for? I pulled the card out of my pocket and gave it to
her. ‘Do I have to pay for her then?’
She smiled, clearly amused. “It’s alright, sir, I just have to register her to you,
that’s all. Wait a minute. You are already registered as having …Filicia. I’m sorry
but you are only allowed to have one woman at a time you know.”
Oh shit. How did they know? I never registered her with the pleasure house
attendant. How could they know? Panic set in. Adrenaline surged through my
body; I was ready to run or fight, or both.
“I’m not sure what the procedure is if you wish to trade in your Yellow for a
White. I would have to ask for assistance.”
Of course, Filicia had said that I could only have one at a time when she first
made the offer to get me a companion. The fact that I had Filicia back in my
apartment had not been recorded anywhere; she was one of the walking dead and
therefore didn’t count.
Wait a minute, Yellow? Filicia? She was wearing no collar at all now. She
hadn’t needed once since she had been adjusted. There had been a long silence
since the Instructor had last spoken and I was painfully aware of my lack of
response. It was with difficulty that I managed to spit it out.
‘I …don’t have a Yellow …anymore. She was adjusted.’
She looked at her epad, pushed some keys then looked up. “I’m sorry sir, the
record was not amended correctly.” She looked down again and pressed yet more
keys on the epad until it beeped an acknowledgement. “It’s been corrected now,
sir. Lyra is officially assigned to you.”
I walked out of the assembly hall, consciously restraining a desire to breathe a
sigh of relief. Lyra was walking just behind me. The door closed behind us and I
indicated a direction with my hand. ‘Come with me.’
I said this as a request, as much as an order, and I was completely taken by
surprise when she slammed me against the wall, put both hands around my throat
and tried to knee me in the groin. She was fast, … and strong, and evidently trained
in some self-defence moves.
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My legs closed automatically. She had made a tactical mistake in trying to knee
me in the groin this way, bringing her knee up between my legs. The defence was
easy, just close your legs together; the knee would be jammed and would not make
contact. Unfortunately, I was a bit slow, and her knee did make contact, albeit with
considerably less force than was intended. Unprotected, the family jewels would
have been in my mouth, such was the ferocity of her attack.
The strangle-hold had been a feint, mainly so that the groin strike would be less
anticipated. Nevertheless her small fingers were causing considerable distress to
my throat. My left arm went high and dived down between her outstretched arms.
My hands interlocked and my left arm became a lever, powered by my right arm,
breaking her hold on my neck. The stress of the selection process had left my body
full of combat juice; she didn’t stand a chance. The action of breaking the hold
exposed her left armpit. My right hand released itself from the lever and retracted
slightly before hurtling forth into her exposed armpit. She went down noisily like a
sack of potatoes and lay on the floor gasping for air.
I knelt on one knee by her side and grabbed both of her hands. ‘Now listen-up. I
don’t want to hurt you, but if you give me any more trouble I’m going to start
breaking your bones until I get your attention. I don’t need you for sex; I’ve
already got a woman. She’s ill and I need someone to look after her when I go out
or when I go to work. Just wait until you get to my apartment and I’ll explain all
about it. Then, if you don’t like it, I’ll bring you back. Deal?’
She scowled at me and nodded slowly. I let go of her hands and stepped back to
a safe distance. ‘By the way, my name is Joran.’
She rubbed under her arm as she picked herself up from the floor. “Nice punch,
Joran.”
We walked side by side along the corridor, a safe distance apart, looking
forward, but keeping aware of each others movements at all times. Her groin attack
had been more successful than I had realised at the time and I was beginning to
feel it. My pace evidently changed a bit; certainly I was not walking quite as
naturally as normal.
She stopped and looked at me. “I hope I didn’t damage you too badly.”
I carried on walking awkwardly and she soon caught up. ‘I guess I’ll live, this
time!’
I couldn’t help laughing a little. And when she started laughing at the comical
way I was walking, I was laughing even more. Then, when she started laughing
more, she felt pain in her ribs where I had put her down. She rubbed her ribs again,
but I felt disinclined to rub my groin under the present circumstances.
I was concerned about going through the bulkhead again with another woman.
After all, it was only yesterday that I had brought Filicia through this same
bulkhead. Surely the guards would remember that? Fortunately we passed through
the down-town bulkhead without incident and I had to assume that these were
actually different guards on duty to the ones I had encountered yesterday. Maybe
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they were having a week-end or maybe they got rotated between the bulk-heads for
increased security: you would never know if there was going to be a ‘friendly’
guard on the bulk-head. Anyway, we soon found ourselves back at my apartment.
Filicia was sitting in the Vid room, staring blankly into space, just as I had left her.
I marched Lyra in and we stood facing Filicia. ‘Filicia. Stand up.’
Filicia stood up and Lyra lost all her composure. I continued with the
introductions. ‘Lyra this is my wife, Filicia. Filicia, this is Lyra. I’ve asked her to
come here and help you to get better.’
Filicia of course did not react. Lyra on the other hand was outraged. She waved
her hands in front of Filicia’s unblinking eyes. “You said she was ill.”
I motioned for Lyra to sit down. ‘Filicia, sit down.’ I sat down as well. ‘She is
ill. She refused to do what a Founder asked and they did this to her. They call it
attitude adjustment. They left her in a pleasure house as a prostitute for the White
workers. When I found out, I brought her back here.’
Lyra was crying now. Her words were barely discernible through the tears. “So
this is what’s going to happen to me then; I think I’d rather be dead. … Of course
I’ll help her. Just tell me what to do and I’ll willingly do it. …And if I find out
which bastard did this to her then – errgh!” This final word was emphasised by her
lifting her open palm up to groin level, clenching it into a fist, then snapping it
down with a twist. The imagery was self-evident. My groin responded with a wince
of its own. This woman was not to be messed with!
‘Ok, Lyra, I have to go back to work. I need to show you the basics of the
apartment first and then we can discuss what to do with Filicia.’
We went first into the kitchen. She had not had a Teacher session, so she was
going to have to learn the old fashioned way. I did the lightning tour. ‘This is
where the food is kept. It’s all labelled and I’ll show you how to operate the Vid so
that you can find out what is in each packet before you cook it. For today, just put
these two bags in there.’
I opened each of the cupboards for her and showed her where the food was
stored. ‘This is the cooker; it opens like this. The food package actually tells the
cooker directly how long to heat it and at what setting. All you have to do is to put
the bags in the oven.’
She kept nodding understanding. I hoped she was getting it all. I walked her
through to the bedroom. ‘This is the shower. The whole cycle of washing and
drying is automatic. If you press this control you can end the washing cycle and
start the drying cycle immediately. There is soap here and a comb here.’
I was pointing out all the features as I went. I opened a storage cabinet on the
wall. ‘These are Filicia’s clothes, but they should fit you to some extent. After I go
to work the first thing you should do is take a shower and change into some of
these clothes. Just pick whatever you like, I’m sure Filicia won’t mind.’
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Next stop was the Vid. I picked up the remote control and showed it to her. ‘This
is the on/off control. Turn it off when you are not using it. The selections that are
possible are shown on the screen like this.’
A single click on the controller and a menu popped up on the screen. ‘To select
what you want, just move the arrow down the screen like this and you either get
another menu or if that was the last menu in the sequence, you get the item itself.’
Again she nodded understanding and asked no questions. It could be that I was a
marvellous instructor, it could be that she was an excellent student; it could be that
she had learned enough to muddle her way through. In any case, time was pressing
and I had to move on.
I took her back through to the kitchen and I sat down opposite to her. ‘That is all
the easy stuff. Filicia herself is going to be the main job. I don’t know for sure how
long it will take to bring her back. What I do know is that that the more time you
spend with her, making her move about and experience things, the better off she
will be. My first goal is to get her to see my actions and follow them, just like a
children’s game. You know, put your hands on your head, to your sides, move your
leg. Any actions that she can see and then do.’
‘I tried this yesterday, but she can’t do any of them at all yet. If you just order
her to put her hands on her head she will do it, but if you say “move your hands
like mine” it’s too complicated for her to follow. Don’t make the mistake of
thinking that she has been made stupid by the adjustment. I am sure she
understands everything around her, but she just can’t make her body obey her yet.
Get the idea that she wants to do everything you ask of her, but something is
preventing her from doing so. Every time she succeeds in doing something new,
something extra, it’s a victory for the good guys.’
‘Treat her with respect and if she achieves something then praise her for it. For
today, let’s just work on getting her to use every muscle in her body, one at a time.
Get her to close her eyes one at a time and both at once. Get her to move her arms
and legs.’
‘Oh, and this is very important, make sure that every now and then you take her
into the toilet and tell her to pee and take a dump. Don’t just say ‘use the toilet’,
it’s too complicated. If you don’t succeed with any particular command then make
sure that you break it down into a series of simpler commands so that she can
eventually do it. If you keep ordering her to do things that she can’t do, she will
get frustrated inside and that would slow things down. Keep giving her successes.’
‘I’ll be back when the hand on that clock points to ‘REST’. And whatever you
do, don’t leave the apartment for any reason. If you do, you won’t be able to get
back in and anything could happen, and I do mean anything, and whatever
happens it won’t be good.’
‘I have to get back to work or I’ll get in trouble, and then all three of us will be
in trouble. Good luck.’ With this I stood up quickly and rushed into the Vid room.
I gave Filicia a quick kiss on the cheek and knelt beside her, holding her left hand
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in my right. ‘Lyra is going to look after you today my darling. I’ll be back after
work.’
There was no response, but then I didn’t expect one. The hope was that by
treating her as a person, she would eventually begin to act like one. I stood and
turned to leave and Lyra was in the doorway watching me. “Don’t worry. I’ll look
after her for you. She’ll be just like a baby sister to me.”
I nodded quickly and left. I didn’t look back. I could feel the tears starting to
well up in my eyes and I didn’t want a stranger to see my weakness. I was late. I
had taken a lot longer with this expedition than I had intended. I rushed back to the
maintenance shop and fired up the Master Scheduler. A couple more priority jobs
had come in and I assigned them to the guys to handle. That done, I gathered up
my tools and epad and headed up-town. I had some jobs to do there and my
controller would not be happy if some of them didn’t get done.
I was so hyped-up that I was moving really quickly and doing jobs faster than
normal. This lasted for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. I didn’t stop
for lunch in order to catch up. By mid-afternoon I had caught up, but the effort of
working at this accelerated rate had taken its toll. It was time to go back
down-town and check on the jobs that had come in.
By the time I arrived back in the down-town maintenance shop, I was ready for a
nice quiet sit down. The nervous energy that had kept me going during the morning
had gone and I could quite happily have gone to bed there and then. But there was
more work to be done. I had to arrange the work a bit better. The schedules had
been pretty sloppy over the last few days and I really needed to improve things. I
looked over the workloads of all four technicians. They had done well today and
there was only time for a few more short jobs each. A couple of jobs had come in
from a Brown and a Blue. Trivial jobs, but from high-up people. Best not to upset
them.
Light not working near the Brown’s apartment. Best to fix that next.
Broken feed sensor on bulk food processor 7A. Yep. That was another next.
Door jammed open on a Yellow’s apartment. Tough. That would have to wait. If
it had jammed shut then it would have to have been fixed, but open wasn’t such a
problem. I had never heard of crime being committed by the populace of the City.
Well, not crimes like theft anyway. Murder, rape and torture, yes; but not theft.
And an open outer door would not encourage or discourage those other crimes
anyway.
The screen flashed red. An ultra-priority job. It was the first one I had ever seen.
It was flashed to all maintenance departments in case the Master Technician of any
one was not available. Jammed airlock in the Security section. The main doors
would not close properly. Until they closed, the inner doors couldn’t be opened.
The trouble is that the shuttle was damaged and was leaking air. It was so
damaged, in fact, that it couldn’t take off again and use another shuttle bay. If they
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couldn’t get the inner doors open then the shuttle crew and passengers were
goners.
This was a job for me. I had been trying to get into the Security section for some
time. Here was an excellent excuse. I moved the job icon into my job file, grabbed
my toolkit and epad and headed back to Zone 5.
The Security section, at last! Filicia was finally out of my mind. She was safe now
with Lyra so I could concentrate on the here and now. We were never called into
the Security section, and that was surprising because my maintenance area was
closest to the White Zone; the Security section was further out than Zone 5. At
least that was my understanding. Filicia had described the overall shape of the
ship, but was somewhat vague concerning the shuttle landing areas and the
Security section.
The ship could be entered from both ends via the shuttle bays. It could not be
entered anywhere else, in fact nothing went through the hull down the length of the
ship, apart from the Dome of course. The hull was a single cast Armalloy shell. An
incredible achievement showing engineering skill of unsurpassed excellence. This
was engineering on a galaxy spanning scale.
One of the Founders had described the process to Filicia and the way she had
described it to me, I could picture it as well as if I had been there myself. Armalloy
wasn’t like an ordinary metal that you melted and cast into a mould. If you could
do that, then you could re-melt it, cut it, burn through it, drill into it and generally
damage it. It was designed as a super-material that could not be cut, drilled,
shaped, formed or anything. It was chemically engineered to be harder, stronger,
denser and more durable than anything that one could even conceive of.
This was not something that was dreamed up overnight. No, the Founders were
Masters of Science when other races were just primitive hunters. They had first
worked out the secret of extending life and because of this their scientists grew
very old and very knowledgeable. Imagine the knowledge you could acquire in ten
lifetimes, provided you did not grow old and forget it all of course. This was the
first secret of the Founders; with it they conquered science. They now could
control Gravity at will. They could also warp the fabric of the space-time
continuum, allowing them to transition from one place to another in the blink of an
eye. They could even extract minerals and fuel from freshwater lakes in an
unreasonably short period of time.
They used this power of theirs to wander throughout the galaxy, sight-seeing,
and leaving a trail of devastation in their wake. They had mastered science, but had
failed to develop culturally. In fact they behaved more like spoiled children than
anything else. It was all ‘I want’, ‘I want’, with nobody else getting their views
heard. If you wanted an evil bunch of degenerates then you would find them here.
But I digress. The hull was made in one piece as a single crystal of Armalloy. It
wasn’t easy and the race that did the construction did not live to tell the tale. The
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Founders were strong before they built the City. They had to be. The People that
built the City were not volunteers. They expended the resources of the entire planet
to construct the ship over a period of over sixty years.
Imagine the scale, imagine the planning, imagine the technology! It would have
been a magnificent sight. One could have felt great respect for the Founders for
this accomplishment, if it weren’t for the fact that it was done with the slave labour
of an entire planet. Oh and the other little point about the genocide at the end,
when they smashed the planet into rubble. They didn’t want anybody else learning
about their technology, so they covered their trail.
The Founder who told Filicia had described the mould for the shell. It was like
an ordinary mould for hot-metal, but the scale was something beyond the grasp of
an ordinary man. The mould was hollowed out of a mountain, with the front-to-
back axis of the elliptical hull being vertical. Three generations of workers toiled
on this task to make the mould as the Founders wanted it.
One of the secrets of the construction was that as the mould was being filled, it
was never allowed to cool and set. The material flowed into the mould day and
night, night and day, over a period of weeks. The raw materials were piled up
around the mountain in what were vast hills in their own right. This is why there
could be no security. Everyone on the planet knew what the ingredients were, and
in what proportions. They even knew that there were two parts to the melt that
were added only as it was poured into the mould. They formed a single crystal,
chemically bonded to itself so tightly that it would be vaporised before it yielded.
Its thermal conductivity was so great that if you tried to heat a part of the finished
shell, it would be like trying to heat the whole shell, impossible. There it was,
buried in the living rock and surrounded by insulating materials. It all had to stay
hot or as the new melt was applied it would solidify immediately and not form a
super-strong single crystal.
Of course the insulation had a major draw-back. Once the filling of the mould
was complete, after weeks of effort, there was no way to cool it. It had to cool
naturally to form the strongest shell possible. They just left it in the mountain for a
year to cool off. Only a race of near immortals could work on a such a grandiose
time scale.
What really outraged Filicia is that this monster who described this work of
engineering excellence to her was so cool about the genocide at the end. He just
brushed it off as if it were nothing. He was not apologetic for the genocide, or even
grateful to the people who had built the City. No normal decent feelings at all. She
had not said anything to the Founder, of course, but she knew for certain that these
Founders were monsters whose ultimate fate should be extermination.
As far as the ship was concerned, it was important to realise that the elliptical
Armalloy cylinder had end caps set back inside the ends a small way, each having
a relatively small aperture near the middle. This was the only way that access to the
City could be achieved. True there was a big hole in the Armalloy shell in the
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middle of the ship, but this was covered by two massive heavily overlapped
Armalloy shutters. Nothing was going to get through them when they were closed.
I had of course seen the small holes in the Armalloy end-caps. I climbed through
the lower part of one with Filicia on the trip to see the viewport at the front of the
ship.
All the control and power feeds to the engines went through these bulkhead
holes. In fact all the structure outside of the shell ends was expendable. It was a
simple Duralloy construction pressed against the Armalloy shell and held firmly
with adhesive. Sure they overlapped and were a pressure-tight fit, but there could
be no screw, no nail, no rivet, no tie-bar holding the two together. If you were
going to use the strongest material possible, then there had to be compromises.
All this meant that the ship had blind spots where its weapons couldn’t fire. This
is why the internal construction was so bizarre. Enemy boarding parties could
come up on a blind side and get in through the shuttle bays. This is why the
Security sections were actually closest to the ends. That, and to guard the shuttles
of course. And, well, the Founders felt safer if the guys with the guns were a fair
distance away from them.
If you wanted to get off the ship you had to go through a Security section. This
was my chance to look at one and see if there was anything I could learn for myself
whilst I was there. Filicia had always insisted that I learn about the ship and even
though she was not here to encourage me, I knew that she would approve.
I was just following the epad’s directions and not concentrating, until after I
went through the Zone 5 bulkhead. I had been on auto-pilot, thinking back over
things long since past. Now I was in Zone 5, heading for the Security section. I
went to full combat alert, all weapons armed, all scanning devices active. Where
was it taking me? I was heading down a corridor that was obviously a dead-end. I
could see the end, and there was nowhere to go. I almost gave up and stopped
walking, but the epad couldn’t be wrong. I went right up to the end of the corridor,
so close that I could reach out and touch it. Only then did the automatic bulkhead
open. I had not searched down here when I was searching Zone 5 before.
It seemed unlikely that the bulkhead would open for anybody and I surmised
that it had opened because the epad had wanted it to. This prevented Whites
straying into the secure areas.
This place was more like a soldiers’ barracks. There were racks for weapons and
body armour openly visible. There were even direction signs to the shuttle bays
and cargo bays! This was unheard of. There were no signs in the rest of the ship, so
why here? I could only guess that an enemy would be coming in that way and
therefore the signs would be of no use to them, but they may speed up a response
by the Security staff.
I obviously hadn’t entered the ship this way. Funny. Out here it was a ship. I was
close to the grim reality of hard vacuum. That made it a ship. Inside, I was happy
to think of it as the City.
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The epad led me in the direction of the shuttle bays. There were already two
other technicians there and I supposed by their uniforms that they were Security
technicians. They saw me and look puzzled. I helped them out. ‘There is a system
wide alert out. The computer called me in.’
One of them stopped making connections to the door controller and looked at
me. “We can’t work out what’s going on. The outer bay doors are open a small
amount, but it’s a huge door. If we open this door fully, we are going to vent a lot
of atmosphere to space before we can get the shuttle passengers out. This has
happened before and they have just let the shuttle crew get on with it, whilst a
repair crew got suited up and fixed the outer doors from the outside. What’s
different now?”
I thought about it. No-one we knew was worth losing that much atmosphere
over. ‘Hey, you don’t suppose they’ve got a Founder on board do you?’
The second Security technician now joined in. “You bet. That’s got to be it. And
those Founders would never be able to get into a suit, so he couldn’t even get out
that way. Oh well. Now guys, you realise that we are in a pretty dodgy position
here. When we open this door, the air is going to start rushing into the bay. It
should reach a dynamic equilibrium at some lower pressure, but the air-flow is
going to be pretty high, depending on exactly how far open the doors are. But
remember that the outer doors are not energised now, otherwise the motors would
have burnt out. If we are unlucky, the outer doors will open further as the air
rushes out. This will increase the rate of venting and we could be in real trouble.
There is just no time left to suit up and protect ourselves. We just have to go for
it.”
The first Security technician had slipped off and come back with some strips of
soft plastic material. “Ok, Blue, here’s the plan. This is our job, so you stay here on
the panel. If everything turns to shit, then pull on these wires and the by-pass will
be removed. This door will shut automatically and everyone else in the Zone will
be ok. This needs a cool head. Are you up for it?”
I nodded assent. These guys were really going into a dangerous situation. The
second Security technician grabbed a couple of the strips of plastic so that they had
a few strips each. He handed me the control panel, which I held in my left hand.
My right was by then already gripping a hand-hold by the side of the door. In an
ideal world I would have tied myself on with a tether, but there was just no time
left.
The plan was obvious. I would open the door. The two technicians would rush
in, assisted by the air flow, and try to block the outer door gap a little, buying some
extra time for the passengers. There was no point in trying to clear debris from the
gap in the doors because it would have been crushed into position. The motors
driving outer bulkhead doors were not known for their weakness!
I looked to the first technician. He nodded ok. So did the second technician. It
was down to me. ‘Three - Two - One - now!’
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I pushed the button on the by-pass and the howling air was ferocious. This
should have been no surprise; the other side of the door was pretty much a vacuum.
As the doors opened, the air velocity reduced a bit, but the volume of air going out
from the corridor was alarming. I nearly pulled the by-pass out then and there, but
as I was thinking about it the guys went in. What courage! They half ran - half flew
across the shuttle bay. The gap in the outer doors was hardly visible and I could
see them struggling to get the strips in place. The strips were too big. As soon as a
part of a strip blocked part of the gap it was held too tightly; it was very difficult to
move it to cover the full length that was possible.
Meanwhile the shuttle doors opened and two burly soldiers were manhandling a
Founder against the wind. The wind was settling down now and I had recovered
from the initial pressure drop. The soldiers were making headway. There was
another group of five passengers behind the Founder’s group.
The Founder was pushed through the door and all three of them rested against
the corridor wall next to me, catching their breath. The wind was not so bad around
the corner where they stood. Suddenly the Founder had caught his breath.
“Close the door!”
I looked inside. The technicians were on their way back and the other group of
five passengers were half-way to the door. I couldn’t close the door! Something
hard smashed into the side of my head and the controller was ripped from my hand.
This disconnected the by-pass and the door closed. As I fell to the ground, the door
was still far enough open to see the faces of the passengers and technicians. This is
not a sight anyone should have to see. The look of loss and despair and betrayal on
their faces was something that would haunt me for years to come. I passed out.
I came around a few minutes later, my head throbbing where it had been hit. I
was being dragged down the corridor by the two soldiers. They each had a grip
around an arm, right up against my armpits, and my heels were dragging behind
me. The Founder was trailing behind. When they saw that I was conscious, they let
me regain my balance. One of the soldiers pushed the barrel of his pistol in my
face. He was a security Yellow, and he was acting on the direct authority of the
Founder.
“You refused an order from a Founder.”
This was not a charge I needed right now, or at any time for that matter.
Refusing the wishes of a Founder meant instant attitude adjustment. I thought fast
through the club-induced fuzz. I needed to play it cool. ‘What order? I couldn’t
hear anything over the wind. I was right in the air-stream, remember.’
I looked over at the Founder. He nodded to the soldier and the weapon was
lowered. The Founder looked at me. “I am alive and I am grateful. I’m sure it was
all just a misunderstanding and it’s not important now.”
He smiled, or what was for him a smile. It was more like the smile of a predator.
Insincere, unfriendly and unwelcome. One of the guards had my toolkit and the
other had my epad. They didn’t offer them to me directly, but instead just placed
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them on the floor in front of me, scowling menacingly. They didn’t believe my
story. I picked up my equipment and just got the hell out of there.
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13 Training
I wasn’t really paying any attention to anything on the way back to the
maintenance shop. Somehow I just arrived back there on auto-pilot and realised
that the shift was over. The technicians’ toolkits and epads were back in place so I
had only to dump off my stuff and lock up the outer door. I realised that Filicia was
with Lyra, in effect a complete stranger, so I tried to stopped introverting over
what had just happened and hurried back to my apartment.
Having entered, I went straight to the Vid room. Empty. I had seen that there
was nobody in the kitchen area and anxiety was beginning to form somewhere
deep inside of me. There was only the bedroom left. I surged through the door in a
near state of panic, and there was Filicia laying flat out on the bed, wearing a robe.
Lyra was sitting beside her with her back to me. For all that I could see, she
looked naked. I wasn’t expecting that. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise. I’ll be in the
kitchen.’
She looked over her shoulder at me and seemed amused at my embarrassment. I
turned on the spot and headed back to the kitchen. I had only just seated myself
when Lyra appeared, fortunately dressed in a robe. She sat opposite me.
“We were working pretty hard today, so we had a shower.”
‘Fine. How did you do today?’
“Well, it’s like you said. She can’t watch what you do and then follow it, but she
can follow simple verbal commands. I have just been giving her verbal commands
and as she did them, I followed her. That’s why we are both worn out. I figured
that if I did what she did, then I would know how much effort was involved. I
didn’t want to exhaust her, so when I got tired we both took a break.”
‘Good plan.’
“If you don’t mind me saying so, you don’t seem very talkative now. Is
everything alright?”
‘There was some trouble in one of the shuttle bays. Some people got killed. I’m
not feeling up to much, that’s all. I’m going to say hello to Filicia.’
“Ok.”
I was glad to escape into the quiet of the bedroom. I sat on the bed, just about
where Lyra had been sitting, and picked up Filicia’s hand in mine. I sat and told
her about what had happened in the shuttle bay; I don’t know why. By the time I
had reached the end, I found that there were tears falling down my face and as I
looked at her she blinked. She understood. ‘Hey, you blinked. You blinked!’
I put her hand back down on the bed and rushed through to Lyra. Lyra was
where I left her, sitting at the table. ‘She blinked; she blinked!’
Lyra leapt up from the table and we held hands; left to right and right to left. I
was so excited I couldn’t stand still. It’s funny, I had only known Lyra for a few
minutes of actual time spent together and yet now I was holding her hands like we
were the best of friends. I guess things like that happen when you are under the
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stress of life and death situations. Anyway, after a few moments of hand holding
we both felt a bit self-conscious and we each broke the hold. I rushed back through
to Filicia; Lyra came too and stood back a discrete distance. ‘Have you fed her
yet?’
“No.”
‘Ok, well let’s eat now then.’
It took the usual commands to walk Filicia through to the kitchen, but somehow
the motions seemed more fluid. I sat her down in the middle of the table so she
would be between Lyra and myself. This just seemed the natural place for her to
be.
We all sat around the table, which was pretty silly given that I had to get the
food ready. I really didn’t feel like doing it, frankly, but then that wasn’t an option.
I went to the food cupboard and pulled out three sachets of food. It would be
simple fare this evening.
As soon as I had selected what we were having, Lyra stood up to join me.
“Why don’t you sit down and let me get it?”
‘You have been with her all day. I guess you could do with a break.’
“Sure, but then you look like you could use a break even more than me. Sit
down for a minute and let me get this.”
I could use the rest. I had been running on nervous energy this morning and
through lunch time. After that there had been the shuttle bay problem. I was
completely done in. I returned to my seat and slumped in the chair.
Lyra only put two of the packs in the cooker and they were soon done. It was a
stew which gushed aroma and steam in equal measure as the package was cut. Lyra
was feeding Filicia. No doubt she would eat later.
I finished eating first; that wasn’t much of a surprise. I was feeling better after
that. I picked up the last packet of food as I stood, and placed it in the cooker. Lyra
hadn’t finished feeding Filicia when the cooking was finished, but I deposited the
food in front of Lyra anyway. When I put out my hand for the spoon, she got the
message and gave it to me; I continued feeding Filicia whilst Lyra ate. Actually
this was a good plan and by the time Lyra had finished, Filicia had just finished as
well.
I scooped up the wrappings and left-overs from Lyra’s meal and summarily
despatched them down the recycling chute along with Filicia’s. ‘Let’s go and sit in
the Vid room.’
Lyra stood up and went to Filicia’s side. She quietly asked her to stand up and
applied gentle pressure to her arm to do so. The result was remarkable. It was more
as if they were good friends, rather than one being a robot in the hands of the other.
I lagged behind as they walked through to the Vid room and as Lyra seated both
of them on the large chair, that left me on the other chair. Sitting there in that
comfortable chair, I could feel my true state of exhaustion for the first time. Now
that I was comfortable, I could afford to feel tired.
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Lyra wasn’t sitting back in her chair, she was sitting forward and looking at me.
“Is it alright if I ask you a question, Joran?”
‘Sure go ahead. You’re safe here.’
“There’s something I don’t understand. Even though her hair has been butchered
and she is bruised, I can see that before those things happened Filicia would have
been the most attractive woman I have seen here. Probably the most attractive
woman I have seen anywhere for that matter. How come one of the Founders
doesn’t have her. I thought they picked up the most beautiful women when they
arrived here.”
‘They do and they did. She told me that all of them had taken her at one time or
another. She has been here for years. The thing is that they never got any
satisfaction out of her and they returned her to the White zone.’
“So how come you kept her. Surely you’re not such a tremendous lover that you
got satisfaction out of her when others failed.”
This woman was rather direct. I was a bit taken aback. I know I said she was
safe but really! I felt my face flush a bit and hoped it was not noticeable. Lyra
noticed my embarrassment, however, and back pedalled. “I’m sorry, I had no right
to ask you that.”
‘It’s alright. I never forced Filicia to be with me. She was with me because she
wanted to be. That was the difference. She gave herself to me willingly. I guess
when the Founder wanted something from her, she just refused because of her
commitment to me. I suppose that makes this my fault.’ I slumped forward in the
chair, my face resting in my hands. It had been a really hard day.
“I’m so sorry; I’m being very rude. Let’s change the subject. In the corridor
outside the selection room you evaded my attack and put me down as if I were
nothing. Do you know that I started learning how to fight when I was four. Every
day my mother would teach me and we would practice for hours. Where I lived
wasn’t a safe place for women.”
“By the time I was thirteen I was taller and stronger and faster than she was, and
yet she could still teach me. These fighting skills had been in my family for
generations, passed on from mother to daughter.”
“When she didn’t come home one day, I found her out in the streets, dead. Her
arm was broken and she had clearly been raped, but from the blood in the alley and
the torn flesh under her finger nails I would say she did some serious damage to
some of them. I can’t imagine how many of them there would have to have been
though. Once, when I was younger, I saw her take out four attackers who wanted
our shopping. And they weren’t weaklings either.”
“She never did complete my training. It was always ‘Perhaps next year, when
you are a bit older, little one’. She always called me ‘little one’, even when I was
taller than she was. …I miss her.” By now the tears were rolling down her cheeks
and she had her head down cast. This was just as well, as that way she didn’t notice
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the tears welling up in my eyes. I managed to brush my hand past my eyes quickly,
before she regained her composure and noticed.
“I’m sorry about that. As I was saying. How did you manage to put me down.”
‘Well it’s supposed to be a secret.’
“Oh.”
‘Look, on my world it was forbidden to learn about war and fighting. Even
talking about it was forbidden. Particularly to women. It’s difficult to break those
habits.’
“Did you tell Filicia?”
‘Of course. She’s my wife. Besides, I had to train here in the apartment so she
had to know. Hell, she wanted to learn so I was teaching her.’
“Of course; now I understand. You have learned a secret martial art passed on in
your family as well.”
‘No, its not quite like that. Your family aren’t all necessarily going to be
suitable for training. No, the Old Knowledge is passed on from a Keeper to a
student, any student. It’s up to the Keeper to select the student and train him to be
a Keeper himself. As it turns out, my uncle was a Keeper, but that was just a
coincidence.’
“But you completed your training and became a Keeper.”
I just nodded to this.
“Then train me.”
Things were moving fast now. The secret Old Knowledge was being spread
about like it was chaff blowing in the wind. But my masters would not object. They
had taught me so that I could pass on the Old Knowledge. Nobody had ever taught
a woman of course, that was out of the question. And here I was having first taught
my wife, and now about to take on a female stranger as a student.
So be it. It had always been passed on to men, but that was just on a planet
where women hated fighting above all else. Things here were very different. With
Filicia it had been a hard choice to make, but the only one. Now things were pretty
much the same. I could not train on my own in this apartment with two others here.
‘Ok, but not tonight. Today has been a rough day. I am going to call it a day and
turn in. Tomorrow, just work with Filicia as you have today.’
I struggled out of the chair and disappeared into the bedroom, to appear only a
few moments later with a spare pillow and blankets. ‘I am afraid you are going to
have to sleep on the sofa. Oh, and I guess you had better use the facilities in the
bedroom before we turn in.’
She nodded and it was her turn to disappear into the bedroom. It wouldn’t have
been sensible for me to go to bed and then have Lyra wandering through to go to
the toilet!
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There followed just the routine action of going to bed, getting up and going to
work. I passed the day only half concentrating on work and letting the day slip by
until it was time to go home in the evening.
I arrived back at the apartment at the end of my shift and found Filicia and Lyra
seated at the kitchen table. I sat down at the head of the table next to Filicia and
picked up her hand.
‘Hello Filicia. Did you miss me?’
Her hand felt less rigid than before and when I asked her the question, I am sure
she blinked in response, even though she had not turned her head to look at me.
‘Hello Lyra. Any progress today?’
“No. I couldn’t see any change.”
‘That’s alright. I can see the change. You are working with her all day and the
changes are small. I can see the whole day’s worth of change in one go. She is
definitely a bit better. Her skin tone is better and her arm is not so rigid. This is
going to take some time. We just have to be patient. But remember, this is doing
her good. Have you eaten yet?’
“No. I thought you wanted us all to eat together.”
‘Well that’s true. It would be much nicer for us to eat together. It makes us more
like a family. We are stronger working together as a unit, rather than as
individuals you know.’
“Well it’s been a while for me you know. My mother died over five years ago
and I never knew my father. I’ve been alone since then.”
‘Well you’re not alone anymore.’
This was all getting a bit slushy, so I stood up and rummaged around in the
cupboard for today’s meal. It was just as well that I had stocked up on food a few
weeks ago. I had enough food for the three of us to live on for weeks more,
although the selection was a bit poor.
Eating the meal was pretty much the same as yesterday, only this time I did the
first shift of feeding Filicia, and Lyra did the second shift. At the end of the meal
we retired to the Vid room. Lyra started up the conversation.
“Have you any new plans for what I should do with Filicia tomorrow?”
‘As a matter of fact, yes. The way Filicia is, she is aware of herself, but not so
much of the outside world. It’s as if she can’t communicate with the outside world.
Now what we want to do is to get her to get back in touch with the real world out
here. Now this consists of the objects, people and spaces in this apartment. What I
want you to do is to get her to touch everything in the apartment, over and over
again until she is used to being in contact with them. This is a form of
communication and it should improve her’.
‘Start with the bigger objects in the room like the walls, tables and chairs and
work your way down to the smaller objects. Be careful not to give her an
ambiguous command. For example, if you pointed to the kitchen chairs from here
and said “touch that chair” she would not know which one you meant. And don’t
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make it too complicated by saying “touch that chair on the left by the side of the
table”. Just give her a nice simple command such as “touch that wall” and point
at it very clearly with your whole arm as you do so’.
‘If she is hesitant or doesn’t do the command, then help her out by guiding her
physically to the object and getting her to touch it. Oh, and thank her for doing it,
even if you had to help her.’
‘When you tell her to touch something, don’t make it like a soldier giving
orders, but then again don’t make it like a request either. It should be somewhere
in between. If you do that for an hour or so, rest, then do some of the same stuff as
you were doing today, and keep alternating, you should do fine’.
‘I’ll do some on you, so you get the idea. Stand up.’
She stood. ‘Thank you.’
I pointed to the wall. ‘Touch that wall.’
She moved over to the wall and I kept pace with her. She touched it with the
whole palm of her left hand. ‘Thank you. Touch that wall.’
I pointed to the opposite wall and she headed off for that wall at a rapid pace. I
kept up without apparent effort, although I was just masking the effort required.
This time she touched the wall lightly with her finger tips.
‘Thank you. Touch that chair.’ I pointed at the large chair which Filicia was
sitting on. Lyra was more cautious of touching the chair for some reason and
seemed to sneak up on it in a round-about fashion. Nevertheless she touched it and
I thanked her.
We kept this up for some time, touching all the chairs in the apartment, the table,
the cupboards, the door frames, doors, cooker and finally down to odds and ends
lying around like my Balance card, a packet of food and a small glass ornament
that belonged to Filicia. Suddenly Lyra was beaming.
“Do you know, I’ve been here for a couple of days now and I still felt as if I was
an outsider, and that this wasn’t my place. Now I feel as if I live here. It’s hard to
explain.”
I smiled too. ‘That’s great. Let’s take a seat.’
I invited her to sit back down on the chair in the Vid room. This time she took
the single chair, thereby allowing me to sit next to Filicia. Looking at the clock on
the wall, I realised that we had spent over half an hour doing that touching
exercise. Lyra was still grinning.
“Hey, you said you were going to teach me some martial arts.”
‘We don’t have very much longer now until it will be time for bed.’
“It would be better to do even ten minutes of training than to do none at all.”
She made a powerful argument there. There was no way I could disagree.
‘Ok. Since Filicia also knows this stuff, I can get her to work at the same time.
Ok?’
“Sure, that sounds great.”
‘Filicia, stand up.’
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She stood and it seemed that she did so more naturally than previously. But this
could have been my wish for her to get better clouding my judgement. ‘Good.
Move forward and stand next to Lyra. Good. Turn around to face me. Good.’
They were now both facing me.
‘Both of you together now. Feet together, arms by your sides. Bow!’
We all bowed to each other, an ancient tradition.
‘Left step to the side, feet shoulder width apart. Ready position. Aiet!’
We started with some simple knee raises and continued with some arm swinging
to get warmed up. We didn’t have too long, so I kept the warm-up short.
The tables were turned now. Lyra was trying to keep up, but Filicia knew the
positions. Although she could not move swiftly and sure-footedly, she still made
the move sooner than Lyra; Lyra had to watch me and try to work out what to do.
On the first few moves Filicia was ahead and then, as Lyra worked out what she
had to do, she rapidly caught up with and then overtook Filicia in her performance.
Filicia’s performance was constant and a bit wobbly. She lacked balance and by
practising these moves I hoped that her balance would be improved.
‘Left step out to horse riding stance. Left punch mid-section. Aiet!’
‘Punch. Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Double punch. Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Double punch. Low then high. Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Triple punch. Low, high, middle. Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Double twin punch. High then low. Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Aiet!’
‘Relax. Breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth.’
‘Good work.’
Those combinations had been difficult, but Filicia was used to them. They had
been drilled into her over a period of months so they were very familiar actions. I
was pleased that she had remembered them. Lyra on the other hand was having
difficulty keeping up.
“I have never done any training like this before. My mother’s method was very
different to this.”
I just nodded. Informal training was ok, but one had to develop discipline and
formal training was a much better way of accomplishing this.
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‘Ok, that’s just about it for tonight. There’s just one more thing for you Lyra.’
I went over to her and put my hands on her shoulders.
‘When you attacked me in the corridor, you brought your knee up between my
legs, striking upwards at the groin. There are two things wrong with that. Firstly,
if I close my legs together then it traps or slows down your attack. That is a very
easy defence. Secondly, the bits have somewhere to go when you strike upwards.
They can go up as well and bounce out of the way. It hurts but it doesn’t
incapacitate an enemy.’
‘You should strike forwards and up at the same time. The bits have nowhere to
go and get crushed into the body. This is much more effective.’
I demonstrated the action on her, slowly.
‘Now, you try it on me at low speed, just to get the feel of the motion of the leg.’
She brought her knee smashing forward and up into my groin. I went down in a
heap.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to …”
She helped me to my feet and I stood straight in front of them. This was one
woman who had the “killer instinct” right on the surface. There was no question of
it being buried and needing to be brought out! ‘Feet together, hands by your sides.
Bow!’
I found the comfort of the nearest chair and slumped in it. Lyra moved Filicia
over to the other chair.
‘Lyra, I am going to show you lots of lethal moves. You need to learn the move
without damaging your instructor. You must practise doing the move slowly,
without power so that I am not damaged. You use the speed and the power when
you practice on a dummy or just shadow boxing with the air.’
She looked suitable chastened.
‘Use the bathroom and then Filicia and I can turn in.’
She just nodded and slunk out of the room.
The next few days followed the same pattern with Filicia making slow but steady
progress. It was the weekend again and it was time to visit the old man. I had made
several visits to him, and all on the basis that he was Filicia’s friend. Today’s visit
would be no exception. I arrived at his workshop soon after the start of work. He
was sitting at his work-bench fiddling with some electronic device and given a lack
of invitation to do otherwise, I just stood.
‘Hi, I thought you would like to know that I found Filicia.’
“Oh, I hoped you wouldn’t do that.”
‘Hey, it’s great. I wanted to thank you. She is coming along well.’
“What do you mean she is coming along well? She’s been adjusted. There is no
hope for her.”
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‘I don’t know who told you that, but she is getting better. She can now blink,
follow you with her eyes and she can move her face muscles enough so that you
can see when she is trying to smile.’
“But that is impossible. She has been adjusted; all they do is die as robots.
Nobody has ever recovered.”
‘But this is Filicia we are talking about and she doesn’t believe in the
impossible.’
“Well I’m going to have to see this.”
‘Fine. There is one thing though. When she gets a bit better, I’ll want to take her
out of the apartment. The guards will get suspicious if she doesn’t have a collar.
You don’t have a spare yellow collar do you?’
“I can’t just give you a spare collar and let you wander about the City with it,
now can I? If you were to be stopped and searched then we would be both be in
serious trouble. It’s not safe for you to bring her here either. If she were to be seen
wandering around without a collar then she would be taken captive by the first
guard who saw her. No, I am going to have to go to her with a collar.”
‘Fine. Let’s go.’
“Well I can’t just leave this place closed up during the day.”
‘Oh, why is that? Just how many visitors do you get here during the day.’
“Ah, well, er, well that’s not the point is it? It’s just not very smart that’s all.”
‘Look, it’s only going to take five minutes to get there and five minutes back. The
time taken to fit a collar is pretty small. Total round trip time is less than fifteen
minutes. Surely you can spare that long for Filicia.’
I was pushing every button I could think of to get the job done. This was a
strange situation. Whilst the collars represented our captivity, without one she was
even more of a captive. After all, she could not spend the rest of her life stuck in
the apartment. He weakened at the repeated use of her name. Perhaps he felt guilty
for having failed to look after her in the first place.
“Yes, alright then. We can go now. You are the first visitor I have had here since
you were last here. In any case, I get notified in advance when somebody is coming
here. It won’t be a problem.”
He slowly raised himself out of his chair and pottered over to the shelves at the
back of the room, returning with a yellow collar. This he placed into a flimsy bag
as he returned to where I was standing. In fact he kept going and headed for the
door. “Come on then, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
I guess that when he decided to do a thing, he just did it. I caught up to him and
led the way. It was only five minutes to my apartment as far as I was concerned,
but with him tagging along behind it was more like ten. ‘Maybe Lyra will be able
to take Filicia out during the day soon.’
“Who is Lyra?”
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‘Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you. I got a White female to assist me with Filicia’s
recovery. She looks after Filicia and exercises her when I am at work. In fact she
has done most of the work to help restore Filicia.’
We had nearly reached the apartment when the old man put his hand to my chest
to stop me. “I don’t want the girl to see me.”
I thought about arguing with the old man, but then I thought better of it and
nodded. ‘Sure, no problem. Look, that is my apartment there. Just stay here and
I’ll put her in the bedroom. She can stay there until you leave.’
He nodded agreement to this and I quickly crossed the short distance to my door.
The card was in my hand by the time I reached the card reader and I entered before
the doors had a chance to fully open.
As I walked through the hall I heard Lyra shouting commands.
“Left and right and left and right and over and back and left and right and left
and…”
She was making so much noise and the door was sufficiently quiet that she
hadn’t noticed me coming in. She also had her back to me, which made it easy for
me to sneak in the room undetected. They were doing a work-out in their
underwear. They were working in perfect harmony, but I suspected that this was
Lyra keeping to Filicia’s pace, rather than the other way around.
Filicia was facing Lyra and therefore she could see me. She looked in my
direction and tried to smile. It was only a faint stretching of the facial muscles, but
it was the best she could do. Also, it took so much of her concentration to do it that
she lost her balance and nearly fell over.
Lyra was by her side in an instant. Boy did she move fast! Filicia was still
looking at me and Lyra noticed something was up and turned to see me. “Huh, just
like a man to stand around and ogle at a woman in her underwear, rather than do
anything useful.”
Oh yeah, she had a fast tongue as well as a fast body! By now Filicia was stably
back on her feet. ‘There’s somebody here to see Filicia and they mustn’t see you.
You need to go into the bedroom and Filicia needs to get a robe on.’
Without any further bidding Filicia went over to her robe and put it on. I looked
at Lyra and she looked at me. We hadn’t told Filicia to put the robe on, she had
interpreted what we had said and done it as if it were an order. She was very shaky
at putting the robe on, but we just watched as she did it.
As soon as she had done it, I rushed over to her and hugged her. ‘Well done, well
done. Come along, I’ve got a friend who’s come to see you.’
Lyra wanted to join in the celebration as well, she had earned it, but she knew
she had to get out of sight in the bedroom, so she fought back the impulse to rush
over to us both and quietly retired to the bedroom. ‘Wait here Filicia.’
I left Filicia in the Vid room and bounded along the hall to open the door. The
old man was just standing there, waiting to be let in.
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“Well, what kept you? Were you having lunch or something? There have been
two people down this corridor and I have had to start walking and pretend to look
for something to make it look as if I had a legitimate reason to be loitering in the
corridor.”
He wasn’t really expecting an answer to this outburst, so I didn’t dignify it by
offering it an answer or an acknowledgement. He had entered the apartment and
followed me down the hall, so that by the time he had finished he saw Filicia.
“Filicia!”
She gave him the same smile that she had given me and he put out his arms to
her. She came to him very slowly and jerkily, so he met her half way. He gave her
a big hug like she was his daughter. As he released her, he turned to me.
“My boy, this is a miracle. You have done the impossible.”
There were tears in his eyes and he turned his back to me as he wiped them
away. This is the sort of behaviour that women don’t understand about men. We
don’t like doing the sloppy bits. ‘Well, it was Filicia who did it really you know,
with a bit of help from Lyra and me.’
“Yes, yes, of course.” He directed Filicia to sit down and he sat down next to
her. I got to sit on a separate chair. “Filicia, you are going to need a collar when
you go out into the City. The trouble is that all collars are registered, so I can’t give
you an official collar.”
He opened the bag that he had been carrying and pulled out a yellow collar.
“This looks like a real collar, but it isn’t. If anybody activates Yellow collars this
one will just tingle a bit. This way you’ll know if you are expected to act as if you
are in pain and can fake it. It would not be good for either of us if you were to draw
attention to yourself and get checked out by the guards. Please be careful.”
Filicia nodded understanding of this in a slow and deliberate fashion. There
were no facial expressions to read. She had always been good at hiding her
feelings when she wanted to, but now she was less able to show those feelings,
even when she really wanted to.
The old man lifted the collar up to her neck and she lifted her chin slightly so
that he could slip it around her neck. The click of the collar snapping shut was not
loud, but since there was no other sound in the room, it somehow seemed louder.
Now she had a collar and a certain amount of freedom: freedom to roam around the
prison at least! The old man struggled to his feet and gathered up his now empty
bag.
“I have to be going now.” He looked at me seriously. “You look after her for
me.”
I just nodded, after all I was going to look after her for her, and I was going to
look after her for me. Of course I was going to look after her for him. It was just a
silly and unnecessary thing for him to say, but then I guess he was just trying to
emphasise the point that he cared about her too. I just wondered if he actually
knew where he was now. ‘Will you be able to find your own way back?’
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“Young man, I was wandering around this City ten years before you were born.”
I guess he meant he knew where he was! He took one last look back at Filicia,
smiled and headed for the door. As soon as he was gone I let Lyra back into the
room. She noticed the collar, but didn’t ask any questions about it. That was good
because I didn’t care to answer any questions on the subject either.
The next week passed without any trouble. I kept up the training of Lyra and
Filicia in the evenings and Lyra kept working with Filicia during the day. Lyra was
particularly adept at the Martial Arts practice. She was very fit and she only needed
to learn the sensitive parts of a body to strike. Her mother had prepared her well so
that she could strike effectively at any part of the body she wanted to. All that she
lacked was the knowledge of the vital areas. I supposed that her mother felt that the
vital zones would not be appropriate information for a thirteen year old to know,
but now it was time for her to learn.
One thing was clear, she was fitter and more supple than me. When I had taught
her the vital points to strike at on a body, she would be deadly. Not more deadly
than me, you understand; the sheer bulk of a man’s body compared to a woman’s
put the trained man at a distinct advantage. Even amongst men, for two equally fit
trained killers, the one with the greater bulk had a distinct advantage.
It was the weekend and the pattern of the day had been the same as any other.
We had just eaten breakfast and I got up from the table to go out. Lyra and Filicia
stood at the same time. Lyra was not looking very happy.
“I thought it was the weekend. Aren’t you going to stay with us today?”
This was unlike Lyra. She sounded a bit irritated. ‘We are running low on food. I
was just going down to the shops to get some fresh supplies. Then I’ll come
straight back, don’t worry.’
“But what about us. Are we supposed to stay cooped up here forever. It’s like
being in prison.”
‘Filicia is not well enough to go out and I don’t want to leave her on her own.’
Lyra just nodded and looked resigned to her fate. Filicia moved her arm
unsteadily up and pointed at Lyra. Lyra and I just looked at each other then back at
Filicia. Filicia had communicated all on her own! I just ran around the table and
hugged her.
‘Well done Filicia, that’s brilliant. You’re making excellent progress. You’re
going to be fine. Now, you wanted to tell me something about Lyra. You wanted
Lyra to go to the shops and me to stay with you?’
She nodded her head very slightly in the negative sense.
‘No. You wanted Lyra to stay with you?’
‘No. You wanted Lyra to take you to the shops?’
‘No. You wanted Lyra to go to the shops with me?’
To this there was an affirmative nod.
‘Yes. But are you going to be alright on your own?’
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Now there was a slight smile and an affirmative nod. I looked at Lyra.
‘Ok. The boss has spoken.’ Then I looked back at Filicia.
‘Lyra comes with me to the shops and you stay here to look after the place. We
won’t be very long.’
I let her go and headed for the door. Lyra stepped over to Filicia and gave her a
big hug. I heard her whisper to Filicia, a quiet ‘thank you’.
I didn’t have anything to say to Lyra on the way to the square. It was a bit like
she was forced on me and I felt slightly uncomfortable with it. Remember that Lyra
was dressed up nicely in Filicia’s clothes and she was a strikingly attractive
woman. I couldn’t help being attracted to her so I was trying to keep my distance.
We didn’t talk at all on the way there, but I noticed her looking at everything. I
suppose it was cruel of me to have kept her locked up like that, but it just didn’t
occur to me that it was wrong. Certainly there was no danger for her out here when
she was with me. After all, she was officially registered to me.
On entering the square we noticed several other couples walking about. In all
cases the woman was snuggled up close to the man. Lyra evidently worked out that
it would be suspicious if she didn’t snuggle up close to me, so she did exactly that.
It was hard being this close to her. When she snuggled up close I could both feel
her and smell her. There was no way I could stay aloof from these sensations.
Whilst I had still occasionally been having sex with Filicia, it was not the same
as having a sexual partner. It just relieved the immediate pressure of the
requirement to have sex, but it wasn’t particularly satisfying. And now here I was
with temptation snuggled up beside me.
I tried to pay as little attention to Lyra as possible and rushed around the shop
gathering up food items. Then it was back to the apartment by the most direct
route. Filicia was not where we left her! She had been sitting in the Vid room and
now she was in the bedroom looking in the wardrobe. Lyra was still by my side.
‘Lyra, can you leave us alone for a while?’
She just nodded and left the room. I was all steamed up, having been so close to
Lyra and I needed a release. I held Filicia and whispered into her ear.
‘How about sex?’
She nodded affirmatively and smiled slightly. I was in a hurry and stripped her
clothes off where she stood, scattering them carelessly across the floor. Mine came
off in the same fashion. I guided her to the bed and started caressing her with both
hands and mouth. Her body physically responded to some degree, but there was no
facial or audible response. I couldn’t wait any longer and entered her.
By the time the door opened I was too far gone care. I was nearly there and the
door opening only just managed to impinge on my consciousness. It was only
perhaps a dozen more thrusts before I was done and as I slumped, my load
discharged, I turned to see Lyra standing in the doorway. She was looking at me
with a kind of cold contempt or disgust. She was looking at me as though I were a
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rapist or something. When she became aware of my looking at her she turned on
her heels and was gone.
Lyra never spoke of what she saw, but she was noticeably colder to me during
the days that followed. By now Filicia’s training had stepped up to the point where
she could watch an action and copy it. Lyra was working her like a dance
instructor so that they would face each other and do exercises, without calling out
the moves to be done. They were communicating now very fluently. Whilst Filicia
could not talk, she could make herself understood by pointing and nodding. Lyra
could guess what was needed to the point that Filicia would indicate something
and in going down a list of options, Lyra would get there almost immediately to
some really complicated response or question. They just seemed to have real
empathy for each other.
On the other hand I felt a bit left out; if Filicia tried to communicate with me it
was a very long drawn out procedure. Anyway, Lyra was always on hand to help
out. Well mostly anyway. Obviously when Filicia and I were going to get intimate
it was not very practical to have Lyra there to translate!
It was another evening, four or five days after that last weekend when Filicia
pointed at the bedroom. I went in and she followed. She pointed at my clothes and
then to the floor and started removing hers. Soon we were both naked.
Filicia knelt on the bed and gestured for me to lie flat on the bed, with my head
in her lap. This took quite a few gestures it has to be said, because I wasn’t sure
where she wanted me. The lights had been dimmed, but my eyes were accustomed
to it now. She was naked and so was I, but my lying naked on top of the bed
seemed a bit strange. I was just looking up at her breasts: a beautiful sight. She
stroked my face with her hands and I felt my manhood throbbing with anticipation.
We had not been together satisfactorily since she had been adjusted; tonight
seemed different.
The door to the bedroom slid open, but before I could look, Filicia’s hands had
covered my eyes. I was conscious of being naked on the bed in public view. This
dampened my ardour slightly, until I felt weight on my legs, and hands massaging
me all over. I couldn’t tell which hands were which. What I did know is that I had
been guided into an opening that was systematically pumping itself up and down
over my groin.
I wasn’t about to complain about this, it felt too good. I heard quiet moans
coming from someone, and it wasn’t just me. My hands wanted to grasp the life
form giving me pleasure down there, but instead they sought out the legs of my
beloved, whose lap my head was resting in.
My head was spinning. The pumping grew deeper and faster and I knew that I
couldn’t see and that I would never see again. And when I came I didn’t know
where I was anymore. All existence was deleted and I was alone. I didn’t even
notice her dismount and leave the room. I just lay exhausted where I was, until the
hands over my eyes were released and I could see again.
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This wasn’t the best sexual encounter that I had ever had, but it was the most
spiritual. That may seem like a strange thing to say, but I was not able to direct my
attention to giving pleasure to my partner and I couldn’t see what was going on.
My thoughts turned inward and it seemed for a moment as if space had opened up
to my perceptions. For a moment, just a moment, I almost perceived the universe.
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14 Founder
It was the week-end again and I had a chance to take Filicia and Lyra to the woods.
Neither had been out of the apartment in the last few weeks and this was not good
for them. A quick walk in the woods would do them a world of good and would
give further stimulation to Filicia to speed her recovery.
I had not been spending my Balance on luxuries and it was now at such an
impressive figure that a trip to the woods for the three of us would not be a
problem. Neither Filicia nor Lyra had Balance cards, but fortunately Filicia had
explained to me some time ago that I could pay for up to two other people to visit
the woods with me. All I had to do was to use my Balance card and to key in the
total number of people who would be entering with me. She hadn’t shown me the
exact procedure, but I supposed that it would be straightforward.
Filicia was coming along nicely now. She did not initiate communications, but
she did respond to conversations and situations. She could answer questions, take
more complex directions, feed herself and use the toilet facilities as the need arose.
She was getting better at all of this day by day, thanks to the unceasing effort from
Lyra.
Lyra was a godsend. I don’t know how I could have managed without her. It was
Lyra who was largely responsible for Filicia’s progress and she was a constant
companion as well as a friend to Filicia.
I had decided to take them to the woods in the afternoon; I hoped that the
corridors would be less busy by then. We were going up-town, Zone 3, and it
seemed sensible for me to take Filicia’s arm and to have Lyra tag along behind like
a maid. Actually, Lyra was more of an equal than you might think. Now that we
shared the common purpose of getting Filicia back to health, and had shared the
same bed, we were partners. But she was happy to walk behind Filicia and me as
we strode down the corridor, this being the safest way to travel.
Lyra had never been to the woods and this would be a great experience and
reward for her. But this was not the point of the visit. My main hope was that the
living plants and animals in the woods would further stimulate Filicia and advance
her progress significantly. We arrived at the up-town bulkhead and the guards did
not question the authority of a Blue to pass through with a Yellow and a White.
Filicia and I had been to the woods several times in the past and I knew the way
very well.
We were nearing the entrance to the woods when we encountered a Founder. It
was obviously a Founder by the way he seemed to take up the entire corridor’s
width and his lack of a collar. This was all we needed! We stepped to the side of
the corridor to let him pass, but he stopped instead and looked at Filicia. She of
course was no longer wearing my ring and since I didn’t know where the rings
were obtained, I had not thought to get one for Lyra. In any case it would have
seemed like a betrayal of Filicia for me to give a ring to Lyra.
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He moved slowly closer to Filicia. “Filicia. I thought it was you.”
He reached out and grabbed her right breast rather roughly.
“It’s been a long time since I last had you. It’s about time I had another go.”
Filicia slowly looked at me, a deep sorrow filled her eyes. She spoke in the
stilted fashion that was the best effort she had made so far during her recovery.
“This is Senior Founder Ruddoc.”
I didn’t really notice that she had started the conversation; my mind was
somewhat occupied. Ruddoc, the one who had violated her virginity and marred
her spirit. If they had the power, my eyes would have burned him to a crisp where
he stood. I had seen and heard what the Founders did and I was afraid. I could not
see how to escape from this situation. Things were looking bad, but I had no
concept of challenging the authority of the Founder.
Lyra had other ideas though. She had great spirit and I had managed to get her
out of Zone 5 before it had been broken. When we moved to the side of the
corridor she was virtually alongside of Filicia. She did not like the idea of this
beast coming along and molesting her friend.
When Ruddoc heard Filicia speak, he knew something was wrong. He removed
his hand from her breast, as if he were letting go of something dirty. “I remember
now. You were found guilty of not obeying the wishes of Founder Thranx. You
were adjusted and sent to the pleasure house in Zone 5. I don’t know how you
managed to get here and with a yellow collar, but I am going to find out. You are
coming with me.”
With this he grabbed her shoulder roughly to turn her around. She did not resist
in any way. Lyra on the other hand moved in on them and grappled with his arms.
“Leave her alone you monster.”
He stopped looking at Filicia and noticed Lyra for the first time.
“Lyra. I didn’t notice you there. I didn’t realise there was still so much fight left
in you. I like that in a woman. I obviously let you go too soon. It looks like you are
going to get a second chance to pleasure me. Come along. As soon as Filicia is
settled back down in the pleasure house in Zone 5, you and I can get
reacquainted.”
Lyra became unresisting at this point and Ruddoc now had a grip on both
women. My life was falling apart all around me! What was supposed to be a
pleasant holiday was turning out to be the worst nightmare I could imagine. When
he found out that the collar was a fake, this would lead him back to the old man as
well. We had all lost, and lost big time. If I was going out, then I was going out
fighting. He had his back to me and it would have been a simple matter to strike at
his lower spine and kill him. But I was not thinking in terms of killing him, just in
terms of making him suffer, as we had suffered. ‘Hey, you scum sucking bag of
shit, leave them alone.’
He turned and I saw fear well-up in his eyes. He was a bit too close to his people
for comfort here. He fumbled in his right-hand pocket, presumably for a collar
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controller. A simple round-house kick slammed my left shin into the elbow of his
right arm, disabling his arm temporarily. Now his fear turned to panic. I slammed
my fist into his lower ribs and felt the satisfactory crunching sound of his ribs
breaking. I did not hit him that hard, but he was very old and his bones were much
more brittle than those of a normal person.
He doubled over in pain and I grabbed his hair, pulling his head back with my
left hand. I could have delivered a killing blow at any time, but that was not the
point. I wanted to hurt him; I wanted him to know pain and fear. I wanted to strike
him for killing my family, murdering my village, raping Filicia and Lyra; crimes
uncountable in both the past and the future.
I struck an open-hand blow to the left side of his collar bone and shattered it
satisfactorily. I then swapped hands, holding his head in my right hand and
smashing the right side of his collar bone as well. I don’t know what kept him up, a
normal man would have been unconscious long before this. Founders either had a
very high threshold of pain or were just remarkably insensitive to bodily feelings.
This was probably the case due to hundreds of years of over-indulgence in sensory
gratification.
I hit his nose with a glancing sideways blow, to ensure that I didn’t accidentally
kill him by driving the bones of his nose through his skull and into his brain. The
nose broke nicely, producing a trickle of blood. I stepped in closer, holding him in
both hands and drove my knee up into his groin with unstoppable force. This is the
blow that made him lose consciousness. I no longer held him upright and he just
slumped to the ground. There was no sense in leaving him alive now. Alive, he
might survive to carry out his threats to Filicia, Lyra, the old man and me. These
blows could have weakened him to the point where he would die, but I had to
make sure. It seemed a bit cowardly to kill him now that he was helpless at my
feet, but it had to be done.
I surveyed the body as it lay there, looking for a target to select. His neck lay
exposed with his head nicely off to one side. I stepped adroitly into position and
brought my heel down onto his neck. The crack told me that he was dead. There
was no need to check.
Filicia was just looking at me, expressionlessly. This was the second person I
had killed in front of her. Lyra was also emotionless over this. Her normal
passionate nature had been suppressed by the words of the Founder. This was
strong evidence of some implanted obedience command, because when I had
picked her out from the White Zone, her first reaction was to try to take me out.
Lyra came over to me and licked a handkerchief she carried with her, using it to
wipe off the spots of blood which had splattered onto my face and hands. We all
stood around staring at each other. What were we going to do now? Thankfully
there was nobody else in the corridor. The woods were just around the corner of
the next corridor so I motioned to Filicia and Lyra to pick up a leg each. The three
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of us carried the body down the corridor until we reached the entrance to the
woods. We dumped him down on the floor and caught our breath for a moment.
‘Help me to get him in the corridor so we can bury him in the woods.’
Lyra moved over to his shoulders to help me lift him, but Filicia stood still.
“Won’t work …Computer will scan you …. When Founder doesn’t …come out
you’ll be …caught.”
She was right. Lyra and I lowered him back down to the ground and I searched
his pockets. He had a very advanced collar controller which I put straight into my
own pocket. Whilst it would be certain death to be found with such an
incriminating piece of evidence, it was too valuable to leave behind. I found his
Balance card and used it to activate the door. This card was also too valuable to
leave behind. The best that could be done was to prop him up against the exit door
at an angle. When the door opened he would fall through. It would make it look as
if he had fallen, an accident. Of course when they examined the body more
carefully they would very quickly see that he had been murdered so there was no
point in leaving the Balance card and collar controller with the body.
The entrance door was prevented from closing by Filicia standing in its way,
whilst Lyra and I struggled to get the body to stay upright. There was insufficient
space for both of us to comfortably manipulate the body into position. It was just
uncomfortably done, that’s all. Several times we stood the body up and it slumped
before we could get back out of the corridor.
The last time we had a better plan. Lyra and I propped him up. I was holding his
head and she was positioning his legs. This was particularly difficult because the
corridor was designed for only one person. We managed it, though, by keeping her
torso down at ground level. This gave enough room for my legs to find purchase
on the floor. Once the ex-Founder's legs were correctly positioned, Lyra squeezed
her way out and held the door in place of Filicia. Lyra could move out of the way
faster so was a better choice on the door holding at that point in the plan.
I tentatively released my grip on the body and it stayed upright for a few
moments. Now was my chance. I turned and took the few steps necessary to get out
of the corridor and Lyra simultaneously released the entrance door. The entrance
door closed and the vertically scanning laser beam swept the length of the corridor.
When it was satisfied that there was only one person in the corridor, it opened the
exit door. This caused the body to slump forward into the spikes on the ground; the
spikes which discouraged animals from getting back out of the entrance.
The plan worked well. It looked as if he had tripped and fallen into the spikes.
The damage to his face and neck would be disguised by the mess the spikes had
made of his face. Better still, his feet were slightly blocking the doorway and were
preventing the exit door from opening. Since the exit door couldn’t close, the
interlock would prevent the outer door from opening. This should confuse the issue
and cause a delay. There were too many random factors to know how long it would
take until he was found. There would then be a delay until a Master Technician
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could be called in to by-pass the door interlock and the body could be recovered.
There would be yet another delay whilst they investigated the death and the body
until they realised he had been murdered. At this point all hell would be let loose.
I took Filicia’s arm and we started off down the corridor in our previous convoy
configuration. I was not hurrying because I did not want to be seen to be rushing
away from the scene, and I certainly didn’t want to draw attention to us by being
out of breath. I was retracing our steps back to the down-town bulkhead, but as we
reached a fork in the corridor Filicia stopped me by applying a slight pressure to
my arm. ‘What is it Filicia?’
She was definitely acting and thinking better today. Even her speech had
improved. “Go to …old man’s up-town office. He will …help.”
Sure. The old man had found out what had happened to Filicia. He had provided
her with a fake collar. He would help in any way that he could. He worked in his
down-town office during the morning and in his up-town office in the afternoons.
Filicia had told me this some time ago, and of course I had used this fact before.
Indeed the red-head had taken me there to get my blue collar, but I wasn’t paying
attention to the route I took that day. ‘Ok, but I never learned the way to his office.
How do we get there?’
She visibly strained to think. She had relied on her perfect photographic memory
for a long time and now that it was not operating correctly, she had to work at it a
bit harder. “Go to the …food factory.”
That was quite a long way away. At the other end of the City. Too bad. This was
going to be the safest way. I remembered the way to the food factory and got us
there by a route which did not take us through the main corridors. We were nearly
there when Filicia indicated a left turn into a narrow corridor. At the end of it was
the old man’s office. Certainly not a place you would just naturally find. We
sounded the entry bell and waited.
Fortunately he was alone and when he saw Filicia he was surprised.
“Filicia, you are looking much better today.”
She smiled for him. A pale imitation of her former self, it has to be said, but it
was progress. He gathered his arms around her and I let go my grip.
“Come, come. Sit yourself down.”
He had been so engrossed with Filicia that he had not noticed Lyra. She came in
and the door closed behind her. He looked at me accusingly. “She shouldn’t be
here.”
I withered under his glare, but Filicia came to my rescue.
“She is - a - my - our friend.” The old man’s anger was diffused.
“This is a miracle. Nobody every recovers from the adjustment Filicia. And now
you can talk. You are a really special girl.”
He said this as he picked up her left hand and held it in his. I didn’t want to
disturb him, but he didn’t seem to be letting go of Filicia’s hand and we had things
we needed to discuss. ‘We need your help.’ This in itself did not immediately get
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his attention so I placed Rudduc’s collar controller on the table in front of him.
Now I had his attention! He gently placed Filicia’s hand back in her lap.
‘We bumped into Senior Founder Ruddoc in the corridor and he realised Filicia
was recovering from the adjustment and wondered how she came to be wearing a
yellow collar. He was going to take Filicia back and then come looking for you. I
had to kill him.’
Now I had just over-emphasised the part about the Founder going looking for
the old man, but as only one person dealt with collars, this would have been where
the Founder would have ended up in his investigations. The old man reeled as he
heard that I had killed a Founder. And not just any Founder either, one of the three
most senior Founders! The old man felt for a chair and sat down. I directed Lyra to
a chair and we all sat down. We could use the rest too.
The old man seemed to recover his wits to some degree and asked me to tell him
what happened exactly. When I had told him he got me to go over it again in more
detail. Then he quizzed me on it with specific questions. Where had I struck the
Founder? Did I take anything else from his body? How had the body landed? By
the time he had finished, the afternoon was almost over. He thought for a while.
“This needs some careful planning. Leave Filicia with me tonight and you take
Lyra back to your apartment. You’d better leave Rudduc’s Balance card and collar
controller here with me. It’s my week-end tomorrow, so I’ll bring Filicia back to
your apartment then. Meanwhile, we’d better get special collars for you two as
well.”
This time he just removed the existing collars and put on the correctly coloured
dummy collars a bit later. There was no need to go through the step of having both
collars on at once in case we got out of line. He then looked at us both.
“This is really serious. Listen carefully. We have to get out of here; out of the
City completely. There is no way we can survive here now. I have made plans for
this for many years and we have to make them happen tomorrow. Those collars are
fakes, like Filicia’s. However, they will warn you by giving you a strong tingling
sensation in your neck if somebody is trying to activate them and then you can fake
the pain if that makes sense.”
He hesitated, letting that last part sink in before continuing. “These ones will not
harm you in any way if you take them off; just pull hard on them and they will
unlatch. There are more than just the four of us leaving. Filicia is the only one who
knows who and where the rest are, and she is going to take me to them. That’s why
she is staying with me tonight.”
He said this last part whilst looking at Filicia. She looked at me and nodded
agreement and then he continued. “There’s one last thing. If you have been
captured and there is no way out, then feel around the collar. There is a soft part
and if you squeeze it, then the end will be painless, I promise you. This will stop
you from betraying your friends.”
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“Right. I’ll see you tomorrow morning if all goes to plan. If we don’t show up
then you are on your own. Now, go, and may God have mercy on all of us.”
Lyra and I got up to leave. Lyra headed for the door and I headed for Filicia. She
stood up unsteadily and I held her shoulders. ‘Keep her safe for me old man.’
Formalities no longer seemed important.
I kissed her long and full on the lips, but she did not return the kiss. The feeling
had not come back to her lips yet; either set. It meant that we had not been sexually
united satisfactorily since she had been taken. Oh I did have sex with her, but it
just wasn’t the same.
Lyra came back and gave Filicia a hug and Filicia whispered something to her.
Lyra looked at me, then back to Filicia, and nodded. We had spent too long on
goodbyes. If we wanted to mingle in with the food factory workers returning from
their shift, we would have to leave now. We left, but it was hard to be apart like
this.
Lyra and I rounded the corner of the corridor and were confronted by a wave of
workers returning home from their shift. We mingled in amongst them and easily
got back through the down-town bulkhead without drawing attention to ourselves.
Once clear of the bulkhead, the crowd spread in all directions and dissipated
very rapidly. This left Lyra and me walking side by side down the corridors to my
apartment. I was curious. ‘What did Filicia whisper to you before we left?’
Lyra looked coy. “Oh it was just girl talk.”
Oh well. That was the end of that conversation. It seemed a very long trip back
to the apartment. I had nothing to say and neither had Lyra. It’s funny. When there
were three of us, we always had lots to say, but just the two of us didn’t seem quite
right. After all, Filicia was my woman and Lyra was supposed to be the hired help.
We entered the apartment silently and sat at the table. We still had nothing to
say to each other. She had been taken by Founder Ruddoc too. She had not
mentioned it before, but then I hadn’t asked. Why should I? Let’s face it, none of
us were pure and clean anymore. I suppose it should have been obvious that she
had been taken by at least one of the Founders. After all, not only was she
extraordinarily beautiful, but she was also wild and spirited. An excellent
combination in a lover.
These thoughts were not appropriate. I decided to go and take a shower and
wash them away. ‘I’m going to take a shower. You can watch the Vid if you like.’
She nodded acknowledgement and I headed for the bedroom. I lazily tossed my
clothes on the bedroom floor, not in any great hurry but just drained of life force. It
was then a short step to the shower. The water jets cut through my loneliness and
replaced it by a tingling sensation in my skin.
Suddenly the lights went out in the shower and the bedroom, leaving the only
illumination as the faint trickle of light coming from the shower power-switch. I
heard the shower door slide open and the water stopped briefly until the door was
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closed again. A pair of warm hands ran over my back and clamped around my
chest.
I could feel her naked breasts digging into my back and her hands slipping down
to my groin. By the time her hands reached their destination, the object of their
search was available in an operating condition. It had been a long time and the
beast needed to be sated. Only one hand held me there but the grip changed as she
swung me around by the shoulders. I could not see her, I could only feel her. No
words were spoken.
Her lips were responsive and eager. Her muscles down below, active and
controlled. The journey in was smooth and easy, but the journey out was
considerably tougher. It was as if she was letting me in, but letting me leave only
reluctantly. Finally my weapon was being milked of its charge. Only the faintest of
moans escaped from her lips, but I felt the shudder in her body as she came, just
after the last pulse of fluid had been extracted from me.
She left me then and I lay against the wall, the water jets still singing against my
body. The lights came back on a few moments later, followed closely by the hot air
jets. I combed out my hair and dried off before emerging from the shower. I picked
my clothes off of the floor and dumped them into the cleaning chute. I could wear
my uniform for the rest of the evening.
When I emerged from the bedroom, she was siting on a sofa in the Vid room
watching the news. Her shoes were kicked off and lying by the side of the chair
and her feet were tucked up on the sofa with her. The only evidence of the action
that had occurred was the fact that her long straight black hair was wet and she was
wearing a towelling robe. I sat in the kitchen and she put on her shoes and walked
in. “There has been no announcement on the news. Either they haven’t found him
yet or they are keeping it quiet.”
That was the first time we had made love on our own. We had done it before
with Filicia holding me, but that had been very different. This was somehow
furtive. She didn’t seem to want to talk about it. It was as if it hadn’t happened. As
if I had just dreamed it. If we didn’t discuss it, then it would stay unreal; just an
afternoon daydream, a fantasy. I didn’t really believe that, but it made me feel
better to kid myself that maybe I did.
She moved around to the cupboard. “Is there anything in particular you would
like - to eat.”
She had made a little mistake there. She had made an innocent remark about
food somehow less innocent by adding those hasty extra words at the end. She was
not unaffected by what had happened either. I couldn’t think about food. I was
concerned about Filicia and the old man. Would they complete their plans by
tomorrow morning? ‘You choose.’
She nodded and selected a pair of identical cartons from the cupboard. Each was
prepared by tearing off a corner and adding some water before it was placed in the
cooker. We both stared vacantly into space until it was done; me sitting at the table
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and her standing by the cooker. She removed the cooked food from the oven and
then proceeded to sit as far away from me at the table as she could. I can’t believe
that she was revolted with me for having had sex with her so it must have been that
she felt the separation would be easier in terms of reducing any further temptation.
Who can fathom the workings of a female mind? Anyway, we consumed the food
without conversation or even any significant eye contact.
When the food was done with, she announced that she was going to take a
shower and I went to watch the Vid for a while. There was nothing else to do. She
was done very quickly and emerged with dry hair this time.
It was uncomfortable being in the same room as her, so I got up to leave.
‘I’m now going to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day by all accounts, so it
might be as well for you to turn in yourself pretty soon.’
I had not been directly looking at her during this speech, but I heard her
muttered ‘ok’ and left. She had been sleeping on the sofa in the Vid room since she
had arrived, so she knew where to get the blankets from. I had been settled in bed
for some time, when the door slid open and a silent warm naked lifeform
insinuated itself quietly between the sheets. There had been no light on in the outer
room so there was no light to see who this interloper was. She just snuggled up
beside me and said nothing. There were no hands seeking anything, just the
companionship of another lifeform, and the unspoken offer was there if the need
arose during the night.
What I most needed was sleep and whilst it came briefly, it was fitful. I was
awakened by the alarm before I was refreshed. The bed was occupied only by me
but I heard movements in the kitchen.
I slipped on my technician’s uniform and went into the kitchen. There was Lyra
with Filicia, but not the old man. Filicia was drinking stim and looked as if she
hadn’t slept all night. Filicia looked at Lyra, and Lyra slipped unobtrusively into
the Vid room. I was feeling guilty as I went over and sat by her side. Before I could
speak she put her hand to my lips and whispered quietly.
“I know; I know everything. I asked her to do it for me. It’s my present to you.
It’s to show you how much I love you, even though I can’t make this body tell you
like it used to. And she loves you too, you know, but she doesn’t want to hurt me
by taking you away from me. But I don’t want to hurt her either so it’s only fair to
share you for whatever time we have left. You’ll just have to find enough space in
your heart to love both of us.”
What could I say? I just grabbed her and hugged her, and she was able to hug me
back. Tears ran down my face in torrents and I didn’t care; she was getting better. I
don’t know how long we held each other, but Lyra came back in the kitchen and
we released the grip. I was feeling a bit self-conscious and I mopped up my face
with a napkin. Filicia did the same. Tears from her too! Her progress was
accelerating. Filicia looked up at me. “Eat.”
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Oh yeah, food. I went to the cupboard and pulled out three packets. Lyra butted
in. “Filicia and I have eaten already, along with the old man. It’s just you who
needs to eat.”
Great. So here I was eating my breakfast with one lover on each side of me,
trying to figure out where to look. I compromised and looked at the breakfast bowl.
Lyra broke the silence. “You carry on eating whilst I talk. There isn’t much time.
I’m telling you because I can tell you faster than Filicia can, that’s all. You need to
go to work as usual and do the minimum necessary amount of work so that you can
get back here as quickly as possible. The old man is coming here. There are twenty
of us in total and we need to get supplies and equipment. We can’t have one person
buy it all, it would look too suspicious. We all have to buy food and those with big
Balances have to get the expensive equipment. We have to make it look like its a
hobby activity. Trouble is you can’t walk from store to store with armfuls of stuff.
We are going to arrange relay teams to take the stuff off you rich guys and
transport the stuff to the shuttle bay. This is going to take most of the day, in order
to not make it look too obvious.”
“First off, the stuff will go to somebody’s apartment which is closer to the White
Zone. Then we are going to use a Founder passageway to avoid the Zone 5
bulkhead.”
By now I had finished eating and it was a short step to dump the empty packet
down one chute and the dirty bowl down another. Breakfast done. I muttered
something inaudible to the assembled masses as I went back into the bedroom to
use the toilet and washing facilities.
I returned refreshed to the kitchen and found them huddled and chatting
conspiratorially. Lyra stood up and placed herself against a wall, as if trying to
keep herself out of the way. She wasn’t finished with her briefing yet.
“When you are done at work, come straight back here. The old man will get here
as soon as he can and he will tell you what to do next. We won’t be here when you
get back. In fact, you won’t see us again until you get to the staging apartment. It’s
time for you to go. Good luck.”
I was being ordered around by the hired help! Well, times change. We have to
adapt I suppose. I went over to Filicia, sat down and picked up her hand in mine.
‘You look after yourself. Today could get rough. Don’t go taking any unnecessary
risks.’
Giving her hand back to her, I put my hand around the back of her head and
kissed her passionately. I almost felt as if there was some response this time,
almost. She looked at me and using her eyes, plus a small motion of her head, she
pointed to Lyra. I suppose she didn’t want Lyra to be left out. I stood and went
over to Lyra. I stood only inches from her. ‘That goes for you too. The thing is, you
have to look after yourself and Filicia. Don’t let us down.’
I intended to give her a light kiss on the lips, but she had other plans. She
reached up behind my neck and pulled us together. This turned into a sizzling kiss
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of epic proportions. At least now I had been kissed. We broke the kiss and I stood
looking at her from a short distance away. We were not directly in Filicia’s line of
sight, more like behind her back actually. Not that she would have minded at all.
Lyra was very professional. “Time for you to go to work.”
I turned and walked to the door. Just as it opened I looked back and they were
huddled again conspiratorially. Enough goodbyes. To work.
My maintenance shop was considerably further away than the old one I used to
go to when I was a Green. Filicia had even suggested moving closer to it, but the
walk didn’t do me any harm and I liked the idea of keeping the same old
apartment. She had said that the new one would look exactly the same as this one.
She didn’t understand. I had a lot of happy memories in this apartment. Mostly
sexual, it has to be said. Nevertheless this was my home now. I didn’t want to
move.
I arrived in plenty of time and looked at the Master Scheduler. There was
nothing very exciting happening. The new jobs had been prioritised by the
computer quite satisfactorily and it was just a question of checking how well it had
assigned them to the technicians. Ok. Ok. No, point, drag, point, drag, point,
activate, done. A very neat interface scheme this; it was only necessary to point an
index finger in the direction of the item and a vision system extrapolated the
pointed finger to a marker on the screen.
I heard the technicians arriving and milling about in the outer room. It was still
early. I pottered around with the Master Scheduler, not really doing anything
effective, but at least consuming enough time for the last technician to arrive.
I set the computer back onto automatic assignment mode. It could probably run
like this for weeks before I was missed. This was the mode it was set in overnight
and it remained in this mode when I took a week-end break. The only real
necessity was to unlock the outer room for access to the epads and the toolkits. But
then if I just left it open, they could take and replace their equipment as they saw
fit. The probability of anybody coming in here to steal the tools was essentially nil.
I climbed out of my chair and went out into the adjoining room. ‘Good morning,
gentlemen.’
I always said ‘Good Morning’ to my men. There was no reason not to and
several good reasons to do so. I always hated it when my former boss, when I was
a technician, used to ignore me completely or grunt something unintelligible as a
greeting. This was a poor working practice that did not need to be followed by me.
I handed out the epads and they collected their toolkits. It was just another
ordinary day. The computer room was independently secure so I could leave this
outer door open and there would be no problem. If I wasn’t here when they came
back, they would just put the epads into spaces in the wall and stow their toolkits
as usual. It would not create any alarm and hopefully by then we would be well on
our way anyway. I gave them time to leave then left myself, taking one last look
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back at the place. I had not been there long, but I had been in charge so it felt as if
it were my space.
Sure enough, when I arrived back at my apartment there was nobody there. I
now had to sit and wait for the old man. This could have been a nerve wracking
experience. Fortunately I could watch the Vid to take my mind off of the
forthcoming events. I was not one for covert operations. Hell I was a farmer.
Everything I did was visible to all around. There were really no secrets. If
somebody was pregnant then the size gave the game away. If the crops failed then
probably everybody else was in the same position.
It was so far from farm to farm that the idea of being unfaithful to ones partner
was a bit far fetched. A nice simple life. Here everything was tight, guarded, secret.
Well, apart from Filicia, Lyra and me. That was all getting a bit too public for
comfort! But now that I thought harder about it, I realised that I had been living a
double life on my Homeworld as well to some degree. After all, I was a Keeper of
the Old Knowledge and neither my wife nor my friends knew. Perhaps I was just
trying to kid myself that things were totally different now. Sure things were
different, but in some ways they were very similar.
The door chime sounded. At last. I had been watching the Vid, but it wasn’t
distracting me enough. I couldn’t help thinking about how, where, when, who?
Having something happen, anything, was better than wondering what might
happen. I shut off the Vid and let the old man in. He was noticeably out of breath
and he too looked as if he had been up all night.
He just stood in the doorway, preventing the door from shutting. He leaned
against the door frame. “Ok, we are now going shopping. Ready?”
I had my Balance card to hand. Nothing else was necessary. It wasn’t as if we
were going ‘outside’, so no coat was ever required. ‘Yeah, I’m ready.’
As I moved to the doorway he moved off and started down the corridor. He was
moving at a snail’s pace. It was difficult to hold myself down to this pace. I was all
hyped-up and ready to run. He was calm and tired by the look of things. We had
reached the square before he started talking.
“It’s safer to talk here. The sound carries quite a way in the corridors and you
never know who might be around the next corner. We have to get lots of supplies,
enough for twenty people for at least four weeks, and preferably for months. This
is how we are going to do it. Everyone is buying their own food, as much as they
can afford. This will make the shop keeper less suspicious. We have to buy even
more because our Balances are stronger. Your Balance is strong, isn’t it?”
I nodded. It was just as well I had kept it very highly positive. He continued.
“Good. Good. If we just go in there and buy five hundred sachets of Sunrise
Surprise then there would be a report made to somebody, I’m sure. So, you need to
buy a balance of all types of food. Get a lot. More than you can easily carry. You
will have helpers outside. People will come up to you and say, ‘That’s a heavy
load, can I help?’ Give them some of the food and they will take it back to the
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staging apartment. You won’t know many of the people, in fact you might not
know any of them. Just do as I say, ok?”
I shrugged. ‘Sure. Is there anything in particular that I should buy?’
He stopped and thought about it, then started up again. “We need some food for
the trip on the shuttle. Anything is ok for that. When we reach the planet we will
want food that doesn’t need cooking, if possible. Try to get foods that are light to
carry and not too bulky. We have to carry this stuff to the shuttle and it will draw
attention to us if we are too heavily laden. Ok, we’re here. Don’t talk to me in the
shop. You don’t know me. When you are done wait for me in the centre of the
square by the statue.”
I nodded and went into the shop. This was tricky. There was lots of good stuff
here which I would have liked to pick up by the armload. That would never do
though, so I had to restrain myself. I never picked up more than about seven or
eight of any individual item.
I picked up a bag from the dispenser on the wall. There were biscuits of a plain
and dry variety. I dumped eight packets in my bag. Packet soups, just add water.
Yes, lots of those in all different flavours. I was going down one aisle and my bag
was already full. I didn’t have nearly enough yet. I took it to the checkout and
noticed the assistant there was looking at me. ‘Hey, I need to stock-up on food so
that I can work solidly without interruptions. I’m leaving this down here on the
floor and when I have collected a few bags then we can put them through the
scanner, ok?’
He didn’t know what to say. I had given him a problem and a solution in one
sentence. He couldn’t complain, he was a Yellow. The only problem would come if
he reported me for unusual behaviour. In this case he would be rewarded if I was
found to be ‘working against the best interests of the City’. At first he just nodded
and then added to this. “Yes sir, that’s fine sir.”
That was the right attitude. This was going to be fine. I fetched another bag from
near the entrance and started off at the end of the first aisle, before going on to the
second aisle. I continued until I had four bags stacked up at the counter. Given that
they had good strong carrying handles I could carry six, I hoped, since I only had
to get as far as the outside of the shop. There were others in the shop and I was
definitely drawing attention to myself. I would have to leave it at five. I filled the
last bag more quickly. I was just less selective. I just put in a few of everything in
the area.
The counter was free when I got there which was good. I put the bag I was
carrying on the circle on the counter and gave the assistant my Balance card. After
he had swiped my card through his reader, I heard the scanner moving inside the
cover next to the bag of food. The display showed the sub-total. I picked up the
bag from the floor and the assistant moved the other bag out of the way. We
proceeded in this way until the last bag was on the counter. The total was
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unbelievable. The assistant looked from the display to me. I tried to look innocent.
‘Looks like I won’t have to come shopping for a while.’
He nearly smiled; nearly. He gave me back my card and I had to move my bags
from the counter to the floor one at a time. When they were all there it was a
struggle to pick them up, but I knew I had to get out of the door without drawing
attention to how much stuff I had. The bags dug deeply into my hands, but I just
gritted my teeth and headed for the door. Fortunately there was another customer
behind me now, so the assistant’s attention was diverted.
I was outside in the square and I just moved the stuff out of the way of the door
and leant by the wall. A young girl came up to me.
“You look as if you need help, sir. Can I … it looks heavy.”
She had flubbed her lines big-time and was going red. This would only draw
attention to her. I just picked up a bag and handed it to her. ‘Take this to the
apartment.’
She smiled in relief and took off with the bag at a prodigious pace. Then a young
man came up to me. He was more confident as he had obviously seen the girl take
the bag from me. “That is a heavy load, sir. Can I help you?”
Well that was closer, but these guys wouldn’t be any good in a Vid story. I gave
him the bag without further comment. There was no point in telling him to take it
to the apartment, for example. It was several minutes before the next helper came.
There had been two customers depart from the shop in the meantime. The next
helper was a very plain woman. Short cropped hair and a very shapeless figure.
Her skin tone was dull and her posture was weak. I couldn’t help noticing these
things. I was so alert and fired up that if a dozen guards had jumped on me I would
have probably taken the whole lot of them out in one go (in my dreams!).
“That’s a heavy load, can I help?”
At last, the correct secret code. She may not have been pretty, but she had passed
the quality check. I gave her a bag. Three down and only two to go. I had been near
the entrance too long, so I picked up the remaining two bags and headed for the
ornamental structure in the centre of the square.
On the way a well dressed man approached.
“That looks like a heavy load, can I help?”
I passed one bag on to him and continued walking with the one remaining bag. I
thought that this must all look very suspicious, but as I looked around I saw that
nobody was looking at me. They ducked their heads or averted their eyes when
they saw me. I was almost invisible because they did not want to incur the wrath of
a Blue. This was handy.
I reached the ornament and put the bag on the ground. This was the first time I
had really stood and looked at the ornament. It was actually a statue on a stone
plinth with decorations around it. The figure was a man in some stately pose,
reading from a chart or drawing. The title of the piece was ‘Senior Founder
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Tilallnic, Architect of the City’. I wondered if they meant the inside bit or the hull
bit of the City. I also wondered if he was still alive.
Whilst I was wondering, a woman came up behind me very quietly. “That’s a
heavy load, can I help?” I was jerked back to the job at hand with a jolt. I was not
concentrating again. I turned and saw another fairly young girl. She was not at all
plain; actually quite pretty, but also remarkably young. I smiled and gave her the
last bag. As she marched off across the square I was left alone to consider what
would happen next. I could consider all I liked, of course, but I was not running the
show. I saw the old man emerge from the food shop with two bags. He was
swaying a bit under the weight. I couldn’t be sure at that distance, but I think it was
the same girl who had taken the first bag off me. Quite possible, I suppose, because
the staging apartment was not that far away and she did seem to move quite
quickly.
He was halfway across the square before somebody else walked past him and
took the last bag. It seemed to me that they did not talk to him, or him to them. It
occurred to me that he probably knew all of them and they knew him. He
continued on to me and motioned for me to meet him when he got closer. He did
not head straight to the centre of the square now that I was in tow. Instead he
veered off in the direction of the up-town bulkhead. I managed to catch up with
him before he reached the exit from the square.
He hardly looked at me, but spoke as we walked alongside each other.
“We are going up-town and then to Zone 2. Our target is under the City.”
I nodded instinctively even though he probably couldn’t see this. ‘Ah, to the
gravity field generators and the hyper-spatial field generators.’
He stopped abruptly and he went very rigid. “You aren’t supposed to know
about them. They are more than top secret. If a Founder knew that you knew, you
would be history. How the hell did you find out?”
I laughed. ‘Well Filicia showed me, of course. One of the Founders showed her.’
His body posture softened. “Filicia, of course.” He smiled. Filicia was like a
daughter to him and my main claim to fame in his eyes was that I was her young
man. We passed the guards at the up-town bulkhead without any questions. They
would have to have a very big suspicion to be questioning a Black with a Blue.
The old man just ignored the guards completely and expected them to not be in his
way and to have the door open when he reached it. This bold assurance was not
something he had to work at particularly, it was just ingrained after years of it
being that way.
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15 Shopping
The old man led me to the Zone 2 bulkhead. Like the Zone 4 bulkhead it was
hidden in an office and I had never seen it before in my travels through Zone 3.
The guards were not noticeably armed here, but they had the same mirror visors
and black uniforms that seemed the norm for Security staff. The Founders
evidently felt unhappy about people with drawn weapons being around them. This
time we were stopped by the guards. “Where are you going, sir?”
A firm and positive tone, but retaining respect for the black collar.
‘I am investigating a problem for Senior Founder Tilallnic. The Master
Technician is assisting me.’
The guard stiffened visibly. “I’ll still have to search you sir.”
The old man raised his arms to waist section. ‘Yes, yes, go on. We don’t have all
day.’
The guard gave him a quick pat here and there and decided that was enough.
What you might call a perfunctory search. He did the same to me and then nodded
to his companion to open the door.
The difference between zones was amazing. The corridors had a cleanliness and
spotlessness that was unlike anything I had thought possible. The air felt fresher
and there were scents of various unidentifiable flowers lingering in the air. The air
felt alive and vibrant. Just being here made my whole body feel more alive. The
old man saw me enjoying the quality of the environment. “It’s nice here isn’t it?”
I was too overwhelmed by it all to construct an answer. I just nodded dumbly, no
doubt grinning like an idiot. By now the bulkhead door had shut behind us and the
old man led the way down the corridors. These were wider and taller than the ones
in Zone 3, and there were decorations and living flowers in baskets scattered
around. Somehow the rectangular section of the normal corridors had been
replaced by a softer more rounded appearance. The effect was to make the
environment seem more friendly.
We came to a bulkhead with no writing on it and no guard. This was unusual.
The old man pointed it out as we walked past. “That is one of several bulkheads
into the Zone 1 Dome. It’s not guarded. There is no need as Founders live out here
and all the sensitive machinery and equipment is out here.”
We came to another door, but this time facing away from the Dome. The old
man swiped a card through the lock. I didn’t see clearly what the picture on the
front was like, but I had the idea that it was Rudduc’s card. We both entered and as
the door shut behind us I felt I had to ask. ‘That wasn’t Rudduc’s card you just
used, was it?’
He pulled it out of his pocket and showed me. It was Rudduc’s card! I was about
to open my mouth and protest, but he cut me short. “It’s ok; I really am working
for Senior Founder Tilallnic.”
He was barely containing his laughter at this point.
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“These Founders don’t really like each other and when it was reported that
Ruddoc had apparently fallen over and died, nobody was too heartbroken. I was
assigned to investigate and handle all the details!”
Now he couldn’t contain himself anymore. He just burst out laughing. This
outburst only lasted for a few moments and he was back to his usual sombre self.
“Anyway, I was supposed to report that Rudduc’s card was no longer valid, but I
guess I’m getting old and senile and it just sort of slipped my mind. Now we can’t
get away with it entirely, because there is a medical examination of the body to be
done. It’s scheduled for this afternoon. We just have a bit of time before the truth is
uncovered, that’s all.”
I looked around the room we had just entered. This was no ordinary room. The
ceiling was high in places and the vast structures in the room went right up to what
must have been the outer hull and also right down to the lower side of the outer
hull. We were actually on a solid area at the entrance to the room, but if we went in
any further we would be walking on a suspended grid of coarse mesh. It actually
made me feel a bit giddy to look up or down; the distances were quite large.
The old man saw me waver when looking at them. “They are impressive aren’t
they. These are the primary fusion reactors generating electrical power from the
magneto-hydrodynamic flux of proton fusion. I don’t know much about it. The
Founders are very protective of their technology. What I do know is that these
generators are very efficient. They have an exhaust system bonded directly to the
Armalloy outer hull. The Armalloy is such a good heat conductor that when we are
in deep space the outer hull reaches a temperature of about ten degrees absolute.
Then when you have proton fusion at tens of thousands of degrees, the overall
efficiency is almost one hundred percent.”
“This would be an excellent way to produce power if it weren’t for two
problems. The first is that it only works in space. That is a relatively small
problem. The second is the fatal flaw in the system. In order to extract the fuel
from a fresh water supply you need to add a catalyst. Without this, it would take
months to extract the amount of fuel that is needed. The catalyst is reclaimed of
course, but the reclamation process isn’t totally effective. There is always leakage
into the eco system. Unfortunately the catalyst is unintentionally the most vile
neuro-toxin that could be conceived of. It gets into every bit of plant and marine
life that there is, and there is nothing that can be done with it once it takes hold.
The fish don’t die and all the lower orders of life don’t die. It’s the higher
life-forms that get hit. The fresh water eventually finds its way to the sea and you
find that the whole planet gets poisoned.”
This sounded familiar. ‘This sounds like the same stuff that they put in missiles
and fire at planets which attack the ship.’
“Yes, and you know you aren’t supposed to know that either. I bet this is Filicia
leaking all this top secret information to you, isn’t it?”
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I nodded affirmatively and he shook his head from side to side slowly, in silent
rebuke of Filicia’s action. “Over the years the Founders have travelled across the
galaxy, leaving a trail of damaged planets in their wake. The planets will
eventually recover, but not for over a hundred years. That is an awfully high price
to keep a few dozen Founders happy.”
“Anyway, to the job at hand. We have to cross-wire the hyper-spatial power
generators into the gravity field generators with jumper cables to the diverter
relays. All the equipment we need is in here. Follow me closely now. These big
units are the hyper-spatial power generators. They are only capable of supplying
power for about five minutes at the most. After that they will blow up.”
The units he was pointing to were the ones that stretched from the lower hull to
the upper hull. They looked crude in construction, with big chunks of metal
protruding at every opportunity. They somehow looked menacing in their
capability. It was more of a feeling than a technical appraisal.
“The hyper-spatial generators themselves cannot supply all the power for a
transition. First they are used to charge up the plasma accumulators. These are like
giant rechargeable batteries. They can only hold their charge for about half an hour
though so when a transition sequence is initiated it’s necessary to charge these
guys up first.”
He pointed to the plasma accumulators. There were dozens of them and each
was larger than my apartment! If they were all accumulators, then there was an
awful lot of energy going to be stored up.
He pointed to the power feeds. “Notice how the power feeds do not get
progressively larger as we head into the heart of the system. Each accumulator
sends its own feeder into the underside of the ship. We need to patch each of these
cables into the gravity power generator diverters. There are two sets of gravity
power generators, in case one set fails. To switch them over you have a bank of
diverters. What we are going to do is to wire the hyper-spatial power generators
into the emergency gravity power generator inputs on those power diverters. Then
I’ll have to arrange for the main gravity power generators to fail. If it’s timed
correctly the hyper-spatial power generators will be at peak output when the
diverters switch. And that will do the job, I hope.”
“Your job is to cut down the main hyper-spatial power feeders to allow them to
fit into the diverters, then wire them into circuit. See the lights on the diverters?
They show which power input is active. Don’t pull the cable out of the active port
or you’ll get fried. There are tools in that case on the wall. Get going, you have
thirty feeders to cut and join.”
Thirty! This was not going to be a quick job. The tools I needed were indeed in
the case on the wall. There were various wrenches, drivers and assorted small tools
that I didn’t specifically recognise. Fortunately there was a bag for the tools so I
was able to take most of them to where I was going to start working.
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Whilst there was a ladder down to the outer hull of the ship, the diverters were
conveniently positioned on the suspended walkway. I followed one of the feeders
until it passed a diverter. Taking care to remove the cable from the correct port, I
unhooked the backup gravity power generator feed. It was a simple matter of
undoing the cable-clamps with a wrench. This was not a small power cable. There
were six clamps holding the cable in place and making contact with the strands.
The cable itself was also heavy and it took both hands to lift it. The hyper-spatial
feeders were larger; I was going to have trouble shifting them.
The diverter port was cleared away and ready for the feeder; now the difficult
part started. I moved the toolkit over to the new work area by the cable and
handled all the tools individually. There were tools there that I hadn’t used before
and as I handled them, their function became apparent. What I needed was a
cutting device and this was not something that I normally used in my work. There
was one tool that had not registered when I touched it and it looked like some sort
of directed energy device. There was nothing else for it but to try it.
There were markings on the side which I inspected. There was also a safety
interlock to prevent accidental activation of the trigger. The safety interlock was
easily disengaged, leaving me with a live trigger. The device had a handle and a
nozzle so I held the handle and pointed the nozzle away from me. When I squeezed
the trigger a piercing whine was emitted along with a bright white light. The
function was not apparent because the beam just harmlessly hit into a nearby
machine. I lowered the beam on to the feeder experimentally and the sheathing
immediately vaporised leaving a clean cut. This was what I needed! I could only
guess that this was some sort of disrupter technology, causing matter to
self-destruct without the application of large amounts of power.
Using this tool it was a simple matter to cut right through the feeder. Now I had
the problem of getting the feeder over to the diverter. I tried picking it up, and
whilst I could just lift it, the distance required was around two arms lengths. I had
to drag the feeder across instead. This proved to be a satisfactory technique. The
cable was heavy but still fairly flexible. For its weight, it moved relatively easily
under my direction. Now that it was closer to its final destination, I could see that I
had to cut and shape the end to reduce it to about one fifth it present size.
Fortunately the tool was very good at sculpting the shape. After some tentative
cutting it looked the right shape. I straddled the cable and using most of my
strength I offered the cable up to the diverter port. The bare conductor touched the
outer casing of the diverter and there was a loud bang as a vicious electric arc was
formed. I fell backwards at the sight and sound of it.
The old man was drawn over by the noise. I was still stumbling to my feet. ‘The
cable is live!’
The old man laughed. “If that cable had been live you would have been blown
half-way across the room by the exploding metal of that housing. No, that is just
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residual charge in the accumulators. I’m sorry; I should have warned you. It should
be alright now.”
I wasn’t entirely happy with this explanation, but we had a schedule to meet so I
took up my position again and picked up the feeder end. This time when it touched
the diverter walls there was only a slight spark and I was able to jam the cable in
the port. I quickly tightened up the clamps and it was done. One down, twenty nine
to go.
Subsequent feeders were easier as I got used to the process. They all sparked
heavily on first contact, but again it was just something you got used to. At this
rate it wouldn’t take too long. I just kept at it mechanically, doing the actions
whilst wondering what the others were doing. I had long since lost count, but I was
well over two thirds done when the old man came over.
“You are doing well. Carry on and complete these remaining feeders, then you
are going to have to find your own way back down-town. I hope you were paying
attention on the way in. Go to the café in the square and have something to eat.
You will be met and given instructions.”
I emitted a feeble ‘ok’ which he acknowledged by doing an immediate about-
face, and exiting through the door. Now that I knew I was on my own, it seemed
even more lonely in here. Just the cold inertness of the machines. I wanted to get
out of there, but I still had work to do. This was no time for emotions. I just put
them to one side and concentrated every part of my abilities onto making the task
go faster. Make the minimum necessary motions. Trim off a bit of the outer
sheathing here and use the same pattern on the rest. Make a game out of speeding
up the work; like a race with myself. How could I cut the cable down to size using
the minimum number of cuts? Anything to distract my attention from what the rest
of them were doing.
In fact I also needed to distract myself from what I was doing. The old man
hadn’t explicitly said what was going to happen. He said that routing the hyper-
spatial power generators into the gravity generators would do the job. That was a
bit vague. It seemed to me that dumping excess power into the gravity generators
would increase the gravitational field, perhaps in proportion to the overload power.
In that case the gravitational field would temporarily go up to at least thirty times
normal and possibly beyond. I doubted that this would affect the Armalloy hull,
but I figured that it would crush the life out of everything and everybody remaining
in the City. I continued focusing my attention just on the work at hand. The moral
issues were not relevant now. I was just following the old man’s orders.
It was done! The last feeder was in place and the last bolt had been tightened. I
put the tools back in the storage bin. I did not even consider leaving them where
they were. It was just not tidy. Mind you, there were bits of casings and cable cores
all over the place and it was pretty obvious to anybody who knew anything that the
feeders had been cross-wired. Previously all the feeders had run alongside of the
walkways. Now the feeders crossed the walkways at odd angles. You had to step
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over the feeders to walk along the normal routes. Anybody who had ever been in
here would know immediately that something was wrong.
After the tools were back in their storage bin, I looked back at my handiwork.
Nobody was ever likely to see it and that was just as well. Enough daydreaming! I
was finished and it was time to go. I looked at my hands and they were far from
clean. The cables were dusty and there was dirt ground into my hands. It seemed to
me that the Founders would not have appreciated dirty people wandering around
their Zone. Also, the guards on the Zone 2 bulkhead would be suspicious if I
appeared in such a state. There must be a wash basin in here somewhere. It would
just be hidden discretely. Where would you put one? It needed a pillar to hide the
up-pipes, and it should be accessible to anybody working anywhere in the room.
You wouldn’t want to have to go to the exit and then go back into the room. All
the routes out of the room converged there, so the pillar nearest that; yes, that
would be it.
I could see the door, but there was no handle and nothing to grip. Of course if I
touched the door with my dirty hands then the door would get dirty. I kicked the
pillar at the bottom and the door opened. I have to admit that the Founders were
very logical. If you figured out how something ought to work then it would usually
work that way.
The water flowed as soon as my hands were over the bowl and the soap
dispensed when my hands were placed under the dispenser. No cross-
contamination here. My hands would be clean and fresh. Removing my hands from
the water I wondered how I would dry them. How would I activate the dryer? I put
my hands back into the sink on a hunch. Yes! The next insertion turned on the
dryer. Good thinking!
Now all I had to do was to remember my way out of here. I went to the door and
turned left as I exited. Oh damn. There was a Founder coming towards me! I just
lowered my gaze and started walking towards him. Had he seen me come out of the
machine room? My tension mounted as we approached. Surely I was sweating and
drawing attention to myself.
He passed and still I wondered. Would he only realise which door I had come
out of when he reached it? I felt as if he were staring at my back, but I didn’t dare
look. That would be an admission of guilt. I just walked a little bit faster. This was
a remarkably difficult task. I wanted to run for my life but I had to hold back. Not
walking faster was definitely a struggle. I won the battle, but only just.
If I kept going in this corridor, I would just go round and round. It was necessary
to turn off. I had not passed any corridors so far. When I came in, had I passed any
corridors after I turned on to this one? I thought one, maybe. There was one ahead.
It looked quite short. That was the one to ignore. I continued and came to a long
corridor. This should be it. I walked down it un-confidently. There was a junction
ahead. Now I was in trouble. Which way would I go? I didn’t remember and there
was nothing I could do to force the memory to re-surface. I walked into the
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T-junction and stood there. Left didn’t look familiar at all. Right seemed better.
There were some plants on the wall in that direction. It looked a better bet, but only
slightly. I headed off in that direction. I felt naked without an epad to guide me and
the additional stress of being somewhere I shouldn’t have been wasn’t helping.
There was another junction coming up. Now I had to admit that I was lost. I
didn’t remember any of this. I had only one option. I knew that the Dome was at
the centre. If I headed radially outwards as much as possible, then I would be
heading towards the outer areas. Therefore the next turn should be left. I came to
the junction and turned left. There it was, the bulkhead! The sense of relief washed
over me in waves. The more I thought about it the better I felt.
It was a short path to the bulkhead and when I activated the “open” control the
guards were there to greet me. What did they want? They motioned for me to raise
my arms and they patted me down to make sure I had not stolen anything from the
Founders. This was a definite relief as well, because I was not guilty of having
stolen anything from the Founders. I had left them a present! Or you could say that
I had stolen their freedom amongst the stars, as I had unhooked the hyper-spatial
feeders. You could say that I had stolen their lives, but thankfully none of this
would show up in a search.
The guards finished searching me and let me go on my way. I thought I would
burst out laughing, or grin uncontrollably, or shout out loud, but I kept my cool
and headed down-town. I soon passed the Zone 3 bulkhead and arrived back in the
square. I was in much safer territory now and I relaxed slightly. I realised that I
was hungry as I headed for the café. It was completely empty when I entered and I
picked a side table for security. I wanted to know if anybody came in. A waiter
came over and I ordered something plain, just to keep me going. I needed a rest.
The food arrived quickly and as I paid for it, I checked my Balance. Still very
good despite the food shopping that morning. In fact the food shopping had hardly
dented it. I started to dive into the food and I noticed a woman’s face appear at the
doorway. She saw me starting on my food and left. Perhaps she was my contact.
No matter. I wasn’t about to do anything more until I had eaten. Besides, to leave a
meal unfinished would have been to invite unwanted attention to myself.
I didn’t rush my meal. It was not clear when I would get to eat again, if at all.
Without wishing to be pessimistic, there were lots of our activities that could be
detected and cause us problems. There was the excessive surge in food purchases,
not just from one person but from the whole group of us. If the amount of food
sold on one day exceeded that sold in a whole week, then surely that would raise
an alarm with an administrator. I could only hope that the administrators would
always be lagging behind by a couple of days. By the time the surge was detected
we would be gone. Or come to think of it, the surge would not be detected because
the administrators would be gone before anything registered. I didn’t want to go
there; that meant nothing would be detected because we had killed everybody.
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I distracted myself from this line of thinking by considering all the other tasks
we had to succeed at. There was the still the ‘acquisition’ of a shuttle to consider.
That was not a trivial exercise on its own.
The old man had to force the hyper-spatial generators to come on-line and then,
at the right moment, cause the primary gravity system to fail, thereby making the
diverter relays energise. I had no idea how he was going to perform this feat; that
all took a lot of inside information. What about the large number of people
involved. If more than four of us met at any time, that would be considered as a
conspiracy. All of that group could be immediately detained.
Stop it! This was no time for negative thoughts. If things went wrong that was
one thing, but there was no point in worrying unduly about it; this would only
encourage something go wrong.
I was nearly finished with the food when the woman reappeared. I say
reappeared, I assume it was the same woman. She was a Yellow with long brown
hair and a fresh complexion. She was quite young and very jittery. She was not one
of the ones who had assisted me with my shopping, but by her actions I assumed
that she was one of us. She came over and sat down across from me. That was
brave in itself. Yellows would not normally behave this way to a Blue. “Joran, I am
your contact.”
I looked up from my food, still chewing, and just nodded affirmatively. She
hesitated quite a bit. “You are Joran, aren’t you?”
I swallowed what I had been chewing. ‘Yes’. This put her at her ease, which was
a relief for me also. She was wound up so tight, that if she hadn’t released the
tension she would probably have sprung apart!
There were only a few mouthfuls of my meal to finish up and I resolved to eat
them. This was no time to be going short of vital nutrition. I needed all I could get.
It would also have been unusual to leave any food on the plate. This was just never
done here. Likewise I finished off the last of the water. There was no point in
drawing attention to myself and plenty of point in not doing so.
As the food was paid for in advance, there was never any need to attract the
attention of the waiter before being given ‘permission’ to leave. This was a very
civilised arrangement. Filicia had once described to me how it was on her world.
Ugh! You had to pay at the end and you could not leave until you had. I liked the
implied freedom here, that you could order the meal then change your mind and
just leave it; walking out of the establishment immediately. I had never done this of
course, but it made me feel more in control to know that I could do so if I wanted
to. It was interesting to note that because I could leave at any time, I had no
particular compulsion to do so.
Filicia had also described prisons to me. We didn’t have them on my world.
There was no government system to produce laws that could imprison you. If you
cheated your neighbours then they would not deal with you anymore and you
would probably starve. If you murdered your wife then you wouldn’t get another
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and probably her family would come and punish you. But these things just didn’t
happen or if they did you didn’t hear about it.
We only knew what happened in the immediate area. Things that happened far
away had to be very important to be heard about. Mine was a much more insulated
existence than Filicia had. Where she came from, if one man out of one hundred
thousand people became ill and hurt somebody, then all of the hundred thousand
would immediately be told about it. That was like a village gossip going around
telling tales on people. Nobody liked gossips!
I was rested after eating and I had evidently been sitting there looking at my
empty glass and reminiscing. The Yellow put her hand on mine, but said nothing.
Very tactful. I let go of the glass and stood up; she followed suit. We left together,
but there was nobody to see us do so. Nobody that I saw, at any rate.
As soon as we left the café, she guided me around in the direction of the
department store. “The old man said that we had to get material for tents, you know
shelters made from cloth and ropes. We also need blankets and all that sort of stuff.
We are going to pretend to be a couple redecorating our apartment and I am
supposed to like cloth dangling from the ceiling and walls. It is a bit of a weak
cover story, but it will have to do.”
‘I don’t know anything much about tents and making shelters from cloth. It
doesn’t sound like a very good shelter to me.’
“Don’t worry about that. I used to do a lot of outdoor activities on my world. I
know what we need. You just have to provide the cover for me, and the Balance.”
I smiled. ‘That I can do.’
She smiled back and linked her arm through mine. She was going to tow me
around like a tame husband providing for his fussy wife. I could play that game.
We entered the store by a side passage and went straight to the section where they
sold cloth. The route taken seemed to avoid as much of the rest of the store as
possible. I wasn’t sure if this was to give us the opportunity to buy more stuff
without the assistants noticing, but this seemed the only explanation, given that we
had taken a longer route to get to this location than was necessary.
The assistant came over immediately and obviously looked to me as I was a
Blue. I spoke before he had the chance. ‘She would like to see some sort of cloth.
Please assist her.’
“Yes sir, right away sir. …Madam, how may I help you?”
Playing up to the role, the Yellow flicked her long hair back with a rapid
movement of her head. “I want to see some light bright fabric to hang on my bare
and boring walls. I want lots and lots of it.”
The assistant showed no surprise at this; very professional. “Yes madam, come
this way.” He led us towards some light pastel shades of some delicate material,
but she veered off at the last moment and grabbed a handful of a material on a reel
off to one side. The assistant spotted her and did an about-face to catch up with
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her. I had no chance to keep up with them, but I just trudged along slowly acting
the part of a bored husband; it wasn’t much of an act.
“Oh you wouldn’t like that material madam. It’s very rough and hard and it’s
waterproof. It’s not the sort of material you were talking about. This material is
very expensive.”
Her mouth turned into a pout and I thought she was going to stamp her feet like
a little girl who couldn’t get her own way. She was very good at this.
“But I want this material. I like it. It’s pretty. Oh I can have it, can’t I honey
bunch?” She was looking at me. Was I supposed to be ‘honey bunch’? What the
hell was a honey bunch anyway? Was this the same serious woman who had
approached me in the café? ‘Of course you can have it my dearest.’ I glared at the
shop assistant. ‘Give her anything she wants.’
He swallowed hard and practically withered on the spot under my glare. It’s a
scary thing having and using this much power over your fellow man. It would be
very easy to get to like it. The assistant barely choked the words out.
“My apologies madam. You can of course have anything in the store that you
wish. How much of this material would you like?”
She approached the reel and stretched her arms wide. The reel was as wide as
her outstretched arms.
“Give me about one hundred times this width.”
I could see that the assistant was bursting to object to this, to be shocked,
outraged, anything but silent. He could not speak though, given my earlier
comment to him. It took him a noticeable amount of time to come back under
control and speak.
“I am afraid there isn’t that much left on this reel. I’ll have to check the
storeroom and see if there is a new reel in there.”
I nodded my approval of this and he rushed off to the storeroom, emerging a
short time later with a whole reel of the stuff. He was staggering under the weight
which was not encouraging. He sighed deeply as he released the load near my feet.
I looked at his worn out condition having travelled such a short distance. I also
noticed that this reel wasn’t that much larger than the one on the rack.
‘It looks like we might just as well have the whole reel. The trouble is that it
looks a bit heavy.’
“That is not a problem sir. The weight is mostly due to the former that the
material is wound on. Once that is removed it will be half as heavy.”
‘Ok, let’s do that then.’
There was a spare slot on the rack and he heaved the reel up into it before I
realised what he was doing. He then proceeded to unreel the material onto the floor
at a great rate, folding it back and forward into pleats as he did so. The finished
heap was folded in half along its width and it made an easily carried package once
it was wrapped.
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He was noticeably flushed when he had finished the packing, but like a true
professional he produced an epad and scanned my Balance card rather than stand
around catching his breath. The total keyed into the display was indeed high; very
high. What the hell: I didn’t have anything else to spend it on after all.
The girl was all bubbly with excitement now that it was all packed up. She
practically jumped on me and with her hands up around the back of my neck she
kissed me quickly but fully on the lips.
“Thank you darling. You’re the best.”
The assistant was relieved that we were leaving and so was I. The girl carried
the package as we left the department. She was practically skipping as she moved
out of the store beside me.
We had barely emerged from the store when another Yellow woman
approached. The girl with the package just handed it over without comment or
even any sort of facial reaction. Then she grabbed me again and we entered the
store by another door. Obviously these conspirators knew each other, but I didn’t
recognise them yet.
We went into another department and when a female assistant came over the
girl, still hanging onto my arm, just started before the assistant could start
speaking.
“I want some soft cord for hanging material up please.”
The assistant looked briefly at me and I just nodded once in her direction. She
had her orders and got the point. “This way madam.”
We snaked through the store, in between aisles of lots of brightly coloured stuff,
most of which was difficult for me to specifically identify. We soon arrived at
some reels of cord up one corner of the room.
The Yellow pulled on the cord as if testing its strength. “Is this cord very
strong?”
‘Oh yes madam. You couldn’t break this cord even if you slipped when you
were hanging your curtains. It would take the weight of both of you and not even
be stretched. How much would you like.’
In this City you could trust the shop assistants. This is apparently unlike any
other place on any other world. The assistants here knew that if they lied or
exaggerated in any way then the purchaser could treat them in an unreasonably
harsh fashion. Lying was out of the question.
“Well, I want a reel of it, just to make sure I have enough, but I can’t decide
which colour I like the best. The blue or the white?”
She looked at me, acting as if she needed my advice. Like hell she did; she knew
exactly what she was doing. She stroked my cheek with the back of a single finger.
“Which do you prefer darling?”
The assistant was looking embarrassed by this display of affection. That was
good. She wouldn’t suspect anything deeper was going on.
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‘Oh I don’t know. If you can’t decide now then why not just take a reel of each.
Then you are sure to have enough and you’ll definitely get the colour you want.’
She giggled enthusiastically and kissed me. This was something else I could get
to like, but it was also very expensive.
“Oh you are clever dearest. Ok, we’ll have a reel of each.”
The assistant hesitated for just a moment before speaking.
‘I’ll have to get the reels from the storeroom. I’ll only be a moment.’
The girl and I didn’t speak when the assistant left. We just had nothing to say.
We were together for a job. Being together was an act. The façade dropped when
there was no audience.
The assistant returned with the reels. ‘Will there be anything else?’
She looked first at me then at the girl. Evidently the girl wasn’t finished yet.
“Blankets. We want some big blankets.”
‘Yes madam. This way.’
The assistant had the reels of cord in a bag and she carried this for us as we
made our way back to the centre of the store. The whole area was filled with
blankets. They were mostly in bags, but for each different type there was one open
and available to inspect. The girl rushed around and touched and viewed all the
blankets she could get at.
“Oh, they are all so lovely. I can’t decide which ones to get.”
I attracted the assistant’s attention by clearing my throat. ‘How many different
styles are there?’
‘I’m not exactly sure sir. There must be well over twenty though.’
I caught up with the girl as she darted from place to place in the store. ‘Ok, you
pick out your twenty favourites. Then you can use a fresh one every day and you
won’t get bored with the colours.’
She gave a girlie giggle of delight and she was off rushing about and picking up
a bagged-up blanket from each of the piles. These she brought back and stacked up
in a heap at my feet. The assistant didn’t know what to make of this and as she
came near I spoke at a low volume so the girl couldn’t hear.
‘She gets bored very quickly. But when she is happy she is very grateful, if you
know what I mean.’
This assistant was a slightly older woman and she signified her understanding
with a discrete nod. She would not be a security problem. The heap became
unstable at ten blankets so the girl started a second heap. The assistant meanwhile
was arranging some carrier bags. The volume of twenty blankets was large. With
five to be carried in each hand, bags with handles were essential. As it turned out
the blankets fitted conveniently, two to a bag. We arranged it so there would be
two bags in one hand and three in the other.
The Balance transaction passed off without problems and we struggled out of
the store with our booty. Again we were met almost immediately and the goods
were passed on. My Balance was getting low, but there was still plenty left for
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some more shopping. We emerged into the square and were met by a couple of
helpers who relieved me of my bags and left the girl with three bags. She put her
bags down on the ground and faced me.
“This is where we part company Joran. I am going back to the staging apartment
with these. I have completed my task now. You still have more to do and it’s best if
you do this part on your own. We need you to get seeds for food crops and
valuable items for trade with the locals. Spend up close to your Balance limit, but
don’t exceed it. We mustn’t draw attention to ourselves. You get the stuff and
bring it outside the store; we will take it off you.”
‘What will the code signal be?’
“We don’t need one. We all know who you are now; we will find you. Just give
the bags to anybody who puts out their hand for them. Good luck Joran.”
She stood up on tip-toes, with her arms around my neck, and kissed me
goodbye. I was getting used to this by now, and I must say it was the most contact
with people that I had ever had. She didn’t have any more words. After she had
kissed me, she turned immediately, picked up her bags, and left.
She had omitted to mention which part of the store had the seeds. That could be
awkward; if I wandered around into the other areas where I had just been it might
be suspicious. Too bad. There wasn’t a lot of time left for anybody to do very
much. The amount of suspicion would have to be very high to provoke an
immediate response.
I entered the store by yet another entrance. There ought to be a store guide on
the wall somewhere. I thought I saw one and headed for it, but I was intercepted on
the way by a male assistant. Before he could make contact I spoke to him.
‘I am looking for seeds to grow vegetables.’
He looked puzzled and disappointed at the same time so I offered an
explanation. This might appease his concern and make him sufficiently content
that he wouldn’t mention it to others.
‘I used to be a farmer on my Homeworld and I thought it would be nice to grow
the odd vegetable in a pot now and then.’
He brightened up at this. “I used to be a farmer too. Let me check the store chart
for you, to see where you should go.”
He took me over to a counter and the sign that I thought was a store guide was
just a size chart. I needed him to look it up after all. He soon found the chart, and
the directions, and guided me across his territory. I stopped at one of the counters
on the way. ‘Hey, these look like candles.’
“Yes that’s right sir.”
He sounded a bit depressed by the thought. “We don’t sell very many though.”
‘Well it just so happens that I would like to surprise my woman with a candle-lit
apartment. But that would take a lot of candles; a lot more than there are here.’
“Well they come in boxes of one hundred if you want a lot sir. I have loads in
the storeroom. We don’t sell very many and since we get commission on anything
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we sell, I would be more than happy to sell you a box of them. People don’t come
to this part of the store very often you know. These are all unusual luxury items.”
‘Well, I’m always happy to help out another farmer. Get me two boxes of these.’
“Yes sir!” He bounded off to the storeroom with a youthful spring in his step.
He was not very old, probably only a few years older than me, and yet he looked
tired and worn down. He soon returned with two boxes and puffed out the standard
patter.
“Will there be anything else sir?”
‘Why don’t you put those down on the counter and take me around your
department. I have lots of Balance and nothing to spend it on. If you get
commission on selling things then you might just as well sell me some of this stuff.
Show me what you have got.’
The truth of the matter was that if they were expensive items, then they might be
useful for trade purposes.
“This is a decorative axe.”
‘Well it looks very nice, but I bet if you tried to cut anything with it, the head
would probably fall off.’
“Oh no sir. Absolutely not. Everything here is a luxury item and yet fully
functional. If you tried to cut a tree down with this, the tree would practically fall
down as soon as it saw this axe. This edge will stay sharp forever and is sharper
than any cutting edge you’ll ever see on any planet we visit. It’s ridiculously
expensive, but it’s the finest quality that it’s possible to make.”
‘You are an excellent salesman. I’ll take it.’
He beamed with delight and took the axe back to the counter at double quick
time. When he returned, I was fiddling with some trinkets on the counter in front of
me.
“This one is for ladies to put paint on their faces. This one makes fire, it’s called
a lighter.” He then proceeded to press the side and a flame shot out. I had never
seen anything like it and I involuntarily stepped back when the flame emerged.
“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
‘It’s alright. Show me how it operates.’
“You just press it here, like this.”
I had a go with it and it was excellent. This was going to be very useful on a new
planet in the middle of nowhere. ‘That is an interesting device. I’ll take it.’
We carried on this way around the store. I also bought a magnetic compass, a
pair of binoculars, a torch, a hunting knife, all sorts of useful stuff. It was a pity I
could only buy one of each. Each had its own unique enhancements over the
originals. The torch projected a bright beam over a good distance, but its main
claim to fame was that it could be left on continuously for over ten years before the
power cell would be depleted. The knife, like the axe, had a blade of Cutalloy. You
could use it to cut things like wood, rope and fish for all your life and the blade
would never get dull. The lighter didn’t run on gas or liquid, it had a power cell
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too. You could use it every day, a hundred times a day, for your entire life and then
pass it on to your children, and it would still be going strong.
The heap on the original sales counter was growing and I thought it was time to
total that heap up. The assistant scanned the items into the checkout and keyed the
result into his epad. He looked a bit pale when he showed me the total. Wow that
was high! It was high, but there was enough left to buy seeds and some less
functional trade goods.
The assistant scanned in my card and was relieved that I had enough Balance.
To carry the stuff, I again used the assistance of several carrier bags. The axe
though was something of a problem. The assistant wrapped it in strong card, so
that the blade was protected, or rather I should say that everything else was
protected from the blade. He tied some string around the head and I wore it slung
over my shoulders. It must have been quite a sight to see me struggling back
through the store with that lot.
I passed on the goods as usual as soon as I left the store. These people seemed a
bit more familiar to me now so there was no problem identifying them. After I had
dumped that load I was about to go back in when I wondered if my card now
showed excessive food, cloth, candles, an axe, a knife and all sorts of survival
gear. Did the card show the purchases or just the value? Something else to worry
about. But perhaps the transactions would not be inspected unless my Balance
went negative or there was some other reason to check.
I only had one more trip to make to the shop and that was it. After that I would
have no further use for the card and they would have a hard job tracking me down.
I was not about to go back to my apartment now.
The last assistant had directed me to the section with the seeds. Knowing this I
could go almost straight there, using an entrance in the square closer to it, rather
than traversing the inside of the store. I was getting nervous now. The closer the
end came the higher the risk. Why? Well the earlier success had made me
confident and now this was the last visit, I might not be so cautious and therefore I
could make a slip.
Ok. Well knowing that I might now be less cautious, I resolved to be
over-cautious to compensate. Problem solved. I went back into the store and found
myself in a strange smelling place. Soil and seeds definitely. You had to buy the
soil as well, of course, since seeds didn’t grow too well in metal!
There were soils available from many different planets in little pots. The same
was true of the seeds. They came from many different planets as well and it was
going to be a job deciding which ones to pick. One thing was for sure. I couldn’t
buy enough seed to support twenty people for a year. In fact I couldn’t buy enough
seed to support me for a year. The large bread-making cereal crops required an
awful lot of land and an awful lot of seed; you needed seed in sacks, and lots of
them. This was going to be more like a vegetable patch. A supplement, but not a
main source of sustenance.
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Sure enough an assistant came over as soon as I entered the area. “How may I
help you sir?”
‘I want to buy a selection of seeds for vegetables. I want lots of different types so
I can see which ones grow best in the soil that I traded with somebody. I also like
to study how they grow on soft pieces of cloth in their first few weeks. It’s a hobby
that doesn’t cost much, but is very time consuming. I can grow hundreds of little
seedlings on a piece of damp cloth for a few weeks.’
“Well sir there is not a lot of call for seeds in that quantity. We only sell them in
packs of ten.”
A pack of ten was no flaming good; I needed hundreds, perhaps thousands of
seeds, not tens. Each packet was very fiddly, about the size of my thumb. The
writing on them was very small.
‘Well I don’t want the seeds to get mixed up and once I find some that grow well
it would be nice to grow more for years to come. Do they come in boxes of
packets?’
“Well yes, I suppose they do, but we have never actually sold one.”
It was inevitable that this transaction would bring attention to myself. There was
just nothing else for it. There was no point in getting free and then starving to
death. Perhaps if we had enough of these, we could trade the mature vegetables
with the locals.
‘How many packets in a box?’
“I don’t know sir, I’ll go and check in the store room.”
Whilst he rushed off to check, I looked at the packets. Each just had a number
on it, but at the bottom of the display was a picture with a number underneath and
a brief description. Some liked dry soil, some wet. Some had been found poisonous
to a few species, whilst others had never been known to have an adverse reaction. I
went down the aisle picking only the ones that had never been poisonous. I had
five packets out of more than thirty different types.
The assistant returned.
“I am afraid that the boxes contain one hundred packets sir. This is what they
look like.”
‘Hey, it’s got a picture on the front and shows the same information as is written
on the sign. Since the seeds are only marked by a number I am going to have to
have them in boxes. It’s the only way to not get them mixed up. It doesn’t matter if
I have far too many does it?’ It was really a rhetorical question. There was no way
he could reasonably object.
“Well, eerr…, no sir.”
‘Good. Get me boxes of these five then.’
“Yes sir.”
He rushed off again and I attacked another aisle. Less luck that time: only four
packets. There were two more aisles. I was half way down the next when the
assistant returned with the boxes. I gave him the packets I had acquired and he
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found himself with the boxes and now some extra packets. He was looking
confused as to what to do.
‘Just put the boxes next to the checkout counter and get the next set of boxes.’
He was visibly relieved. He could now move; I had solved his immediate
problem. “Yes sir.”
I had completed my sweep of the four aisles and had picked a total of seventeen
packets. That wasn’t great because some might not fare well in the new climate. At
least if they did grow, we would not have anybody being ill as a result.
The assistant came back just as I had finished and I gave him the remaining
packets. He was getting into the swing of it now and had deposited the new boxes
on the counter before coming over. I gave him the last few packets and just ambled
around the section seeing if there was anything else that might be useful.
A soil moisture analyser. Hah! If I couldn’t tell the soil moisture by feeling the
soil, then I would never have been a good farmer now would I? Mostly this area
just contained seeds, soils and pots. I needed no soil or pots so I was done. I
returned to the counter just as the assistant was returning with the final boxes.
Seventeen little boxes that had no weight and no size to speak of. They all fitted
into a single, mostly empty, carrier bag.
The assistant scanned them through the counter and held up the epad for my
inspection. This was the highest bill today: astronomical! Anyway, I gave him my
card and it went through ok. My Balance was only just positive now, so that was it.
I picked up the final load and left the shop. All done!
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16 Supplies
As I emerged from the shop with my final haul, the old man was waiting for me
with his final haul. We headed for the drop-off point together. Fortunately he knew
the way, so I just tagged along. We had not gone far when the weight of his
baggage became noticeable. My load was very light so I took two of his five bags;
now we had three each.
How he had managed with five bags I couldn’t imagine; I was now struggling
with the two extra bags that I had taken from him. By tacit agreement we didn’t
mention that the bags were heavy. Such an admission of weakness from a man,
regardless of age, was frowned upon in any society.
We were both showing signs of the strain as we rounded the final corner to the
destination apartment. There was a woman waiting by the door and she let us in. I
wasn’t sure if I had seen her before, but she seemed to recognise the old man and
greeted him warmly. There was a proper little conspiracy going on here.
We just piled our stuff inside the door along with the rest. The apartment was
looking packed out, not only with supplies but with people also. Hey, I knew him.
He was one of my Technicians; the young one, whose work I had inspected when I
needed to get help from the White Zone. He saw me and practically jumped out of
his skin. I just smiled and carried on inspecting the room.
The old man was in conference with one of the women. Lyra and Filicia were
not in evidence. The old man came over to me.
“There’s a problem. We need to get into an apartment where there is a secret
Founder passage to the Security Zone. The trouble is that Rudduc’s card doesn’t
open the door for some reason.”
Door opening; my speciality. Also we had a tool kit courtesy of my errant
Technician. I signalled for him to come over. ‘Where’s your toolkit?’
He looked nervous and started looking about the room. I was in no mood for
this.
‘Go and find your toolkit and then come back here.’
He nodded timidly and shuffled off, searching around the edges of the piles of
food and other supplies. I was an old hand by now so it was somehow acceptable
to sigh impatiently at this novice. Fancy losing your toolkit!
He found it and held it aloft, as if looking for applause; none was forthcoming.
He returned buoyantly like a puppy fetching a stick. Six of us left to go to the
apartment: the old man, my Technician, a girl guide, me and a couple of others
carrying stuff, but lagging a bit behind. We could not travel as a party of six, so we
made it four and two. It was still a strange looking party to be travelling the
corridors, but we were not seen because there was nobody else moving in those
particular corridors.
The girl tried Rudduc’s card in the slot and sure enough it didn’t open the door. I
gestured for her to give it to me. It was bent. The internal structure had been
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cracked. This was no use to anyone now. I looked at her accusingly and she wilted
under the stare.
“It wasn’t my fault. There was so much going on, the card got knocked into
some packing material and I trod on it. I’m sorry.”
With this she burst into tears. I continued to glower at her and the Technician
came to her rescue.
“All we need to do is return with the card to Central Services and they will
replace it.” Now it was his turn. I gave him a look of complete and utter contempt.
‘Who is going to give us a replacement for a Senior Founder’s card?’
He shrivelled up visibly and swallowed deeply. I knew what to do; Lorek had
shown me. I started bashing and pulling at the wall panel with the others staring at
me. They must have thought that I had lost it. This panel was stiffer than the one
Lorek had pulled off. At least I seemed to be using more effort than he did. I was
making a fair amount of noise and when the panel finally came away from the wall,
it clattered noisily to the floor.
Oh well, too bad. I activated the release and the door slid open noiselessly. If we
didn’t have a key, we were going to have to leave somebody inside to open the
door. This was not good news. Fortunately there were no people in these corridors
at the moment, but for how long?
The old man had just entered the apartment, gesturing for the rest to wait
outside, when the guard appeared, blast rifle up and ready. Unfortunately there was
now a group of five of us milling about in the corridor together.
“What’s going on here? Hey wait a minute, there’s five of you. That is not
allowed!”
We didn’t need this sort of trouble now, or at any other time for that matter. We
were running late and we couldn’t afford to attract any attention. I didn’t know
what to say so I continued picking the wall panel up off the floor. The old man
came out of the apartment and the sight of his black collar momentarily distracted
the guard. This was all the time I needed. The panel hung in mid-air as I turned and
stood in one fluid motion. I was in full combat mode. There were no safeties and
there was no room for remorse. The guard was close enough now that I pushed his
blast rifle barrel into the wall and smashed my foot up into his groin. He was going
down, but I did not give him the chance. A single front kick to his exposed jaw,
just visible beneath the mirror visor, and his head snapped back at an odd angle.
The old man was stunned by this so I indicated to the technician and the girl
guide to drag the body into the apartment. I picked up the blast rifle and handed it
to the old man. He handled it as if it were toxic, but nevertheless took it into the
apartment. The other two followed him in, carrying their heavy loads. I returned to
pick up the wall panel and replace it.
The door closed, leaving just me in the corridor. I returned to the job of
replacing the wall panel, wondering where the guard’s partner was. I had only ever
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seen them in pairs. It turned out that the panel was as difficult to get back on as it
was to take off in the first place.
The sound of heavy boots thudding down the corridor alerted me to the other
guard before he rounded the corner. I continued to position the panel as the guard
marched towards me. Best to play ignorant if he stopped.
“Did you see another guard come this way?”
Remember, ignorant. ‘I’ve just arrived. I haven’t seen anybody.’
The panel finally clicked into place. Thank goodness! The guard’s body posture
seemed to indicate that he wasn’t convinced. Or perhaps this was just my nerves,
who can say. He spotted something on the floor and knelt down, resting his rifle
against his knees. “Blood!”
Oh damn, that had torn it. There was nothing else for it, I was going to have to
take him out too. I gave him a round-house kick to the head and planned to grab
for the end of his rifle. Unfortunately, he managed to move his head enough to turn
my round-house kick into a glancing blow, rather than a direct strike, but at least I
was able to grab the rifle from his grasp and throw it down the corridor behind me.
The guard stood and shook his head, as if trying to realign his neck muscles.
“You picked the wrong guard to mess with, you fucking little shit.”
He assumed a fighting stance. I was good at taking out untrained people, but
somebody who had studied unarmed combat? That was a different matter. I tasted
the fear in my mouth and hastily started reciting the mantra under my breath.
‘I am a warrior. I live and will die…’
Ugh. He hit me with a side-kick to the mid-section. This was no time for
mantras. I needed all my concentration on the enemy. It was fortunate that I had
been working my abdominal muscles recently, they held. His kick was more of a
push than a strike, but the sheer momentum knocked me down. Fortunately the
guard’s black body-armour was cramping his style. I was lying on my back as he
advanced. Although I was only slightly winded, it was clear that I could not get off
the ground easily with him this close. As he moved in, a short round-house kick to
the knee caused it to buckle under his own weight and he was on his way down. It
was now a race to see who could get to his feet first.
It was a tie. We both struggled to our feet at about the same time and stood some
distance apart recovering. He unlatched his helmet and threw it to the floor. He
was even more scary without his helmet. This was not some fresh-faced kid, but a
hardened battle veteran. I was in deep shit and the whole plan hinged on me taking
this guy down.
We stood facing each other, moving only slightly, looking for an opening, a
weakness in the defence. There was none. It was a bit a of a stand-off. Then the
door opened right next to us. It was the girl. I knew that the girl was there and I
was half expecting the door to open. The guard was not expecting it and he looked
at her; that was my opening. A single slip-side-kick to the mid-section and I had
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knocked him back a bit. He wasn’t hurt, because of his body armour, but he was a
bit off-balance.
A hook-kick to the head gave a satisfactory impact of my right heel into his right
temple. Again it was a glancing blow because he was moving to avoid it. The good
news is that it disoriented him still further. I stepped in and planted a hammer fist
on the top of his head. Now he was in trouble. His removal of the armoured helmet
was a fatal mistake; it left his whole head as the primary target. Blows to his body
armour would not be ultimately effective.
I smashed my left elbow into his face and he started to slump against the wall.
He was only semi-conscious now as I stepped up behind him. There was no way I
was going to knock him out and tie him up, or any such nonsense; it was too risky.
I just grabbed his head and gave it a sharp turn. The snap told me he was dead.
That had been a hard move to learn. How could you practice it? This was it; this
was my first real practice. It wasn’t that hard.
The girl ran down the corridor and fetched the rifle. Now we had two blast rifles.
Things were looking up. I started dragging the body into the apartment and the
technician came out to give me a hand. Without any instruction, the girl fetched the
guard’s helmet and took it into the apartment as well.
The old man was not happy. “Do you like this killing or what?”
I was angry. Here I was risking my neck and all the thanks I get is that he thinks
I like killing.
‘There was no choice. He saw the blood on the floor and was investigating.’
The old man seemed unconvinced. The girl picked up a cloth and went outside,
presumably to clean away any incriminating marks. Smart move. The old man had
made me doubt myself. Was I really enjoying the killing? Certainly a warrior was
happy to be defeating the enemy, but I was a farmer. I was confused. Which was
the real me; the farmer or the killer?
Fortunately the Technician broke the introspection. “Where is the secret
passageway?”
He was looking at me, but I didn’t know. Only the old man knew. He answered
the question. “The passage should be over here.”
He wandered over to a closet, built into the wall, and opened the door. There
was nothing. An empty closet. I opened the other door of the pair to let in more
light. Still no obvious controls. The old man tried twisting the coat hooks and
fittings. Nothing moved. There were so few fittings inside, that we quickly
exhausted all possibilities. The old man left the closet and sat on the bed. This was
one of the cheapest apartments. Everything in one room.
The Technician joined the old man on the bed. They had given up. This was not
the place or the time to give up. We had to find the passageway; there were a lot of
good people relying on us. I had one last trick up my sleeve. The secret doors to
the gravity and hyper-spatial field generator areas were accessed by kicking a plain
piece of the wall. There were lots of these secret doors. Maybe they had a common
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locking mechanism. In fact I remembered that Filicia had said that they did have
common locking mechanisms. After all, it was bad enough having to remember
where they were, let alone how to operate each one individually.
I kicked the left side of the wall. It didn’t feel strange. I counted under my
breath. Whilst I was doing so the Technician came over and watched me. He
couldn’t understand what I was doing. I must admit, it probably looked as if I was
losing it again and taking my frustration out on the wall.
‘… two, one, ugh.’
The second kick did the trick. The door appeared where before there had only
been a closet. It slid back slowly but smoothly. Of course, this was not just a secret
door, it was a pressure bulkhead as well. It was dark on the other side of the door
and as I pushed my way through I realised that I was emerging from another closet.
That made sense. If anything, the White side needed to be even more secure than
the down-town side.
The old man was back in charge. He looked at the Technician.
“You stay here and get the supplies through into that other room.”
The Technician looked at me as if needing approval from his boss. I just nodded
to him and he seemed happier. The old man then turned to the girl.
“We don’t have too long. Get the others here as quickly as you can. Bring them
in groups of three.”
She nodded and set off on her mission. She had a lot of travelling to do. I hoped
she was fit enough. He then turned his attention on me.
“I have plans for you. Let’s go.”
We moved to the doorway and I had a horrible sinking feeling. I stopped in the
doorway and turned to the Technician. ‘Hey. Where’s your epad?’
He thought for a moment. “It’s back in the last apartment with all the rest of the
stuff.”
Oh shit! I looked at the old man and saw the light of realisation appear in his
face. We both moved back inside the apartment and let the door close.
‘Now we are really fucked. Didn’t you know the epads have tracking devices in
them? They also have listening devices. You may well have single-handedly killed
all of us. This is our last sanctuary. Nobody knows about this place. You stay here
with one of the blast rifles. Defend this place with your life. Do you understand?’
He nodded weakly. I picked up the other blast rifle and gave it to the old man.
‘I know you don’t like this violence, but we have no choice now. The guards may
already be at the other apartment. We have to hurry.’
He pulled a pillowcase from the bed and wrapped it around the gun.
“There’s no point in deliberately provoking trouble.”
We left in a hurry and I set the pace. I kept ahead of the old man at all times and
kept pushing the pace until he started to lag behind. I bumped into the girl in the
corridor, only one corridor from the staging apartment. Her three companions had
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armfuls of stuff. Now I took the lead. ‘You three wait here.’ They put their loads
down by the edge of the corridor to wait.
The girl guide was feeling left out. ‘You come with me.’
The old man had caught up now and the three of us went to the apartment. The
apartment seemed even more full than before. There were about ten people there,
but still no Lyra and Filicia. The first order of business was the epad. I spotted it
immediately on a side table and rushed over to it. The technician had set it for a
lunch break, but that was many hours ago. Still that was better than nothing. I
quickly stood the epad up against the corridor wall just outside the apartment and
stepped back inside. When the door closed I addressed the room.
‘This place is no longer safe. That epad had a monitor in it. There may be a
team of guards on their way here now. I need one volunteer to stay here and guard
the equipment. Everyone else has to leave now, with as much stuff as you can
carry.’
There were two volunteers; one fresh faced kid and one older guy. I gestured to
the old man and he handed the blast rifle to the older guy, showing him the
controls briefly. Everyone else started picking up the food and supplies.
I took the girl guide to one side.
‘Look, it’s going to be dangerous coming back here. You are the only one who
knows the way to the other apartment. I need you to bring back at least three of
these lot and shift the rest of this stuff. There are also more of our people to arrive
and then be guided out. Are you willing to do it?’
She was only a young girl and she was scared stiff, that was obvious, but that
didn’t stop her. “Yes sir, I’ll do it.”
I reached out to pat her on the shoulder but she just grabbed and hugged me. I
hugged her back. She was a brave girl.
There was nothing more we could do. I hated having to leave with Lyra and Filicia
unaccounted for, but the old man insisted. It was the right thing to do, of course,
but it was hard nevertheless. The old man took me back up-town and I soon
realised where I was; it was the Teacher room where I had attained the status of
Blue. The red-head entered from the side room just after we arrived. He looked at
her.
“You know what we need: shuttle pilot, survival skills, and if there is time go
for anything else you feel may be useful.”
She nodded and kissed him on the forehead. “Be careful.”
He left and I sat myself in the Teacher chair. Today was very different to the
other times in the chair. Now I was really nervous. Admittedly there was a lot
riding on the outcome of the last session, but this time was even worse. I made it
alright with myself. No stress. The old man could pilot the shuttle, so there was no
need for me to be concerned if I couldn’t learn it. Survival skills were a matter of
what environment you landed in. A cold icy wasteland would be very different to a
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jungle environment. They couldn’t give me all of it in such a short time so I would
just have to muddle along. I felt less nervous. I had convinced myself it wasn’t a
life and death problem. If I got some extra knowledge it would be a bonus. Yes,
that was the proper frame of mind.
The red-head inserted a data card into the Teacher and the headset lowered itself
into position. Quickly the outside world was replaced by the images conjured up
by the Teacher. A survival course. Curious, I thought it was going to be the shuttle
course first. This was a generic survival course as there was no way of knowing
what would be encountered. Beware of creepy crawly wriggly things because they
might be venomous. Seek shelter, water, protection, food. Test everything. Don’t
eat the food just because the animals did; they might be immune to the toxins.
Always use purification tablets in the water or, if they weren’t available, drink
clear fast-running water. If it was stagnant, don’t drink unless you absolutely had
to, in which case filter using natural mosses. Rules, rules, rules; a lot of do’s and
don’ts. Just as well it was done by Teacher; it would have taken a long time for it
all to sink-in otherwise.
The room faded back into view and the Teacher raised itself out of the way. I
had no sense of the time that had passed, but I was feeling a bit tired after that lot;
this was not the time to be weak. The red-head looked concerned.
“How are you doing?”
I had to be honest about it. ‘That was quite a lot of stuff. I feel a bit strange
actually. A bit tired. Do I get a break before the next one?’
She was still concerned, but she made light of it. “Take your time. A break is
definitely a good idea. Just take a walk around the room and stretch your legs.”
When she said ‘stretch your legs’ she probably meant walk around a bit. I was
thinking more in terms of stretching my legs. First a few legs raises to head-section
then a few leg raises to the side and across. I needed to be in tip-top condition
today so I could not afford to stretch anything to heavily. Just a moderate amount
to keep the muscles freed up. I opened my legs to the side and stretched them open.
A good way down now, but still not flat on the floor. Oh well, I was better now
than I had ever been, even when I was young and fit.
The red-head had seen enough. “You had better get back in the chair now.”
She had changed her tune a bit. She even sounded a bit worried now. I
obediently sat down and the Teacher lowered itself down again. The room faded
away to be replaced by dark open space. I was frightened at first until I realised
that this was all part of the program. The first part was on the nature of space and
the pitfalls. Navigation and the stars. Entering an atmosphere. Gravity field
generators. Thrust vectoring. All just general introductory stuff. We hadn’t actually
started on a shuttle yet. Controls, control panel, instruments, navigational array …
Aghh!
The sudden loss as the pictures discontinued was tremendous. The program
could not be aborted during the run so evidently the old man had pulled my feet
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out from under me so that I slid out of the helmet. I was dizzy, disorientated,
reeling. The red-head was by my side, helping me but scolding him.
“He wasn’t finished, you shouldn’t have done that, you could have scrambled
his mind permanently!”
I couldn’t see her properly. The images from the Teacher were interspersed with
reality. I couldn’t focus or think clearly. I wanted to be sick, but couldn’t control
my body in any definite way. Arms grabbed me and I was carried out of the room.
Voices, a male voice.
“Look, I know it’s dangerous but there is no more time; we have to go now.
Joran, Joran, you have to walk now; come on man, use that secret Old Knowledge
of yours, focus.”
How dare he mention the Old Knowledge? In fact, how did he even know about
it specifically? I was outraged. Even though I couldn’t yet control my body, my
mind was beginning to clear. Yes, the Old Knowledge. There was a technique for
everything. After a thousand years of accumulated wisdom, with each generation
adding what it had found out, passed on from father to son, uncle to nephew, the
Old Knowledge had grown. Surely there was something there to help. Yes, when
under torture, how to focus the body’s energy for a last strike at the enemy.
Concentrate on the nerve channels in the body, feel the pathways through the body,
become the channel. Become a weapon, see a flow and enhance it, see a stoppage
and remove it. Sing with the joy of the energy. Burst forth in blazing glory. Ye-
hah!
My body suddenly became rigid and they stopped dragging me down the
corridor. I shook them off of my arms and shook my whole body to free it of the
stupor. I was temporarily invigorated. It would not last forever, perhaps for the
next couple of hours; I had never done it before so there was no way to know for
sure. And then I would pay for draining the body’s resources so heavily. So be it.
In an hour I could be dead. Better to go out in style.
Seeing that I was now on my own two feet, the old man moved apart from us.
“I still have things to do. Take Joran back to the staging apartment, but if there is
any sign of trouble just keep going. Oh, and take this timer. When the numbers
reach zero you have to be off the ship, no matter what. Do you understand, both of
you?”
We both nodded and the old man gave the timer to me. I don’t know why he
didn’t give it to the red-head, but now was no time to argue. I looked at the timer:
‘fifty six’. Hey, that was cutting it pretty fine. I showed the timer face to the
red-head and she nodded. We had to go. She wasn’t going for a peck on the
forehead this time, she grabbed the old man and gave him a passionate kiss. He
was visibly flustered at the end. “Yes, right, rush along, hurry.”
He turned his back and made his way off down the corridor. We were heading
the other way, back down-town. I couldn’t help speculating as to what he was up
to. Where was he going that was so urgent or important? He had evidently already
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set the timer circuits, so what else was needed? It wasn’t as if there would be
anything left to escape from after the circuits activated.
The red-head and I were returning to the staging apartment. This wasn’t
particularly safe, but if there was trouble we could just walk past. We were both
Blues so we should be ok. As we got closer we could hear the sound of blast rifles.
The apartment door was open because of the dead guard in the doorway. There was
another dead guard in the corridor. As we came down the corridor there were two
guards, one on either side at an intersection, blasting away at the open door with no
particular target in sight.
This fire fight was blocking our path to the final apartment. The red head looked
at me and whispered conspiratorially. “We have to take them out.” I nodded in
agreement.
The red-head was quick thinking and ripped off one of the straps on her dress,
revealing a magnificent curving breast, partially covered by the thinnest
diaphanous material. She called to one of the guards.
“My dress is broken. Can you give me a hand with it?”
What sort of line was that? She didn’t really think they would fall for that
surely? One of them kept his eyes on the doorway after he had seen the red-head,
the other lowered his weapon and turned to face her. She moved so fast that I was
taken aback. So much for my secret Old Knowledge. It seemed like everyone and
his dog knew about these ‘secret’ fighting techniques. She kicked the rifle out of
his hands and went for him hand to hand. I missed out on the action because there
was a still another guard to be dealt with.
Mine was not trained in any secret martial skills fortunately, so I was able to
break his knee as my opening gambit. With his attention suitably distracted, I
knocked the rifle from his hands and gave him a knife-hand thrust to the throat, the
only vulnerable target given his body armour. This was not a guaranteed kill and I
wasn’t sure if he was finished. He was safe for now though so I picked up his rifle
and checked on the red-head. Her guard had a knife and as I watched, he plunged it
into her left shoulder. She went down under the blow, which was convenient in one
way; it took her out of the line of fire.
I pointed and fired. That was the end of the guard. It was just as well the
red-head was on the ground. The rifle was set to such a dispersed pattern that if she
had been standing even close to the guard, she would have taken a bad hit herself. I
looked at the side of the weapon and there was a control that looked as if it was
pictorially showing the beam-width. I narrowed the beam down and turned the
weapon on the prone guard at my feet. Yes, that was a narrower setting. It also
solved the problem of whether or not that guard was dead; he sure was dead now.
The red-head had picked herself off the floor and was stuffing something over
the wound. Whilst she was doing this, I grabbed the other blast rifle. As I headed
for the open apartment door I picked up another rifle from the other dead guard in
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the corridor. To pick up the forth rifle would have meant exposing myself to fire
from the open doorway. I didn’t want to get hit by “friendly fire”.
‘Hey, hold your fire, it’s Joran.’
I heard a faint sound from inside. “Ok, Joran, … come on … in.”
I had to step over the body of the guard in the doorway. There was a blast rifle
pointing at me, held by a man propped up against the wall. The older guy, well he
was about five years older than me, was lying in a pool of blood with his left arm
completely missing.
“I did it. I held them …off. Did you …get them?”
I nodded affirmatively. ‘Yes, we got them. You did really well. Now we have to
get you to the others.’
He looked at his arm stub. The pain was written all over his face. The blood was
not surging out, as he had covered it with a cloth, but it didn’t look good. The
guard’s blast rifle was set on such a dispersed pattern that it had burned off the
arm, but not cauterised the wound. Nasty. I looked around the apartment and there
was still a fair amount of stuff to take.
Then the girl guide and three volunteers stepped in through the door. I had not
been paying attention; they could have been more guards! No, even now the red-
head was watching my back and guarding the doorway. Presumably the blast rifle
in her hand had come from the guard in the doorway. It’s just as well she had some
common sense. I had forgotten all about defence after seeing the wounded guy.
The girl guide spoke up. “We were waiting around the corridor to see what
happened.”
I looked at her and saw her looking at the victim. Best that she not dwell on that
sight too long. ‘It’s time to leave now. Take everything else you can carry. We’re
not coming back here.’
She nodded and motioned for her helpers to pick up the remaining items. They
took it all easily and headed for the door. I turned back to the wounded guy. He
had laid his rifle down on the floor and was reaching for his collar.
“I hope that you all make it. I’m sorry I can’t come with you.”
With this he squeezed the collar and his whole body went limp. The old man
hadn’t lied; that was a clean way out. Fortunately the girl guide and her helpers had
already left. There was just me and the red-head. She had seen it, that’s for sure. It
sounds silly, but I pulled the collar from his neck and placed it on an open patch on
the floor. Setting the blast rifle on a wide beam, I stood and blasted the collar into
oblivion. Now that I think about it, this was a stupid thing to do. I can only
suppose that emotion took over from reason in this case.
Looking back at the restful corpse, I couldn’t help talking out loud to him.
‘You’re free now.’
It was only a moment’s effort to take up his blast rifle as well. I now had four
and the red-head had one too. I hung two on my left shoulder and one on my right,
keeping one to hand. It was going to look more than a bit suspicious walking down
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the corridor like this; any guards we met were history. The red-head was actually
leaning against the door frame; I had forgotten that she was wounded. I couldn’t
rush over to her with blast rifles hanging off of both shoulders anyway, but as I
approached her she just moved away. The girl guide and her three helpers were
moving down the corridor with the red-head in pursuit. I had to rush to keep up.
We made no attempt to clean up the mess of bodies littering the corridor. There
was no point and there was no time. By now the authorities were alerted to
something and even if we made the bodies disappear miraculously, there would
still be search parties out looking for us. We needed to get out of the corridors
quickly. However, once we reached the final staging apartment, we should be
relatively safe. The guards were never going to know that we could cross the zones
through Founder passageways. Hell, they wouldn’t even know where they were.
We were all travelling at quite a pace now so it wasn’t long before we reached
the Founder’s special apartment. The door was open by the time I got there, but
there was nothing there: no people, no supplies. I panicked for a second until I
realised that they should all be next door.
We all piled into the closet and it was a tremendous sight on the other side. Vast
amounts of food and equipment and people, all milling about. I called out to the
crowd. ‘Come and take these guns.’
This elicited responses from those who were willing to use them. After all, there
were only six blast rifles in total and around twenty of us. The first three took the
rifles from my shoulders; I kept mine. Having done my duty, I spotted Lyra in the
crowd. I knew Filicia would not be far away. Sure enough, as I approached she
stood up and I hugged them both. ‘Do we have a med tech in the group?’
Lyra answered. “Yes, the Blue over there.”
She indicated a small thin man who seemed to be trying to merge himself into
the wall in order to be unnoticed. I pointed at him. ‘You. The red-head needs your
help.’
I motioned him over to where she was, propped against the wall. He scrambled
to his feet, with a little black bag in his hands, and scurried across to her. I directed
my next question at Lyra. ‘Are we all here?’
She shook her head slowly. “No. The old man hasn’t arrived yet.”
Damn. It was getting hot around here. All hell was going to break loose soon. I
pulled out the timer. It read ‘forty one’; that wasn’t very much time. ‘We need to be
moving out now. There isn’t very much time left.’
Both Lyra and Filicia nodded. The red-head arrived at the same time. She was
now showing no signs of weakness. Presumably the med tech had given her a shot
of pain killer so that she could continue to function. I repeated my message to her.
‘We should be moving. We can’t afford to wait around. We need to get to a
shuttle.’
The red-head just looked at me. “Well, what are you waiting for? You’re in
charge.”
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Huh? I looked at Filicia and she nodded. I looked at Lyra, she nodded too. What
was this, another conspiracy? ‘Hey, you guys have been running this show with the
old man. Why are you all looking at me?’
This time Lyra answered. “These are the old man’s orders. We have just been
doing what he said. And what he said for now is that if he didn’t arrive in time, you
were to take charge and get everyone on the shuttle. After all, you are the only pilot
we have. He said you were in charge, but we were to protect you against anything
stupid you might do that would put you in danger. You are the only one here we
can’t afford to lose.”
Well it’s nice to be wanted, but the idea of everyone else risking their lives to
save mine didn’t seem at all fair. I had to think on my feet. I wasn’t sure if the old
man had seen how to activate the bulkhead door, but that was irrelevant. Pretty
soon there would be nobody here to open the outer door anyway.
I was a Blue, but not too used to giving orders to such a large group. Come to
think of it, nobody in the City except the security personnel would be used to
dealing with groups of people. Unless, of course, they were used to it prior to
coming to the City. Again the City always chose its new recruits from the teenage
population so there wouldn’t be any commanding officers brought into the City. To
hell with that, there wasn’t time for such nonsense.
I looked at the red-head. ‘Go check the door in the other apartment. Make sure
the old man isn’t waiting to come in.’
She nodded and left. This was a mission she would do with all her heart. I saw
four strong and healthy looking men sitting in a group. There were three blast rifles
propped against the wall next to them. These looked like my new guards. ‘You
four; go back to the other apartment and bring the two guards back here.’
One looked as though he were about to protest, but one of the others just
grabbed him and dragged him to his feet. The others started coming over for
orders. They all needed to be doing something and the fact that I was giving orders
automatically made me in charge. They wanted to be told what to do. The next two
were women.
‘You two. Go back next door and when the guards have been removed make
sure that everything in there is normal. No blood, no packages, no nothing that
would make it look as if we were there.’
They turned on their heels and left. Next up was the girl guide. ‘Ok. Get these
others to help you. What we need is all these packages sorted out and lined up
close to that exit. We want all the food and water spread about amongst the
packages. I don’t want to lose all the water, or all the food, or all the survival gear
if one of us doesn’t make it. Do you understand?’
She nodded. “Yes sir.”
She seemed happy to be taking orders. In fact they all seemed to be happy to be
given orders. It gave them something to do. If they were just left to think that
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would be bad. Lyra came over to me, with Filicia in close proximity; these two
were a pair now. Lyra did most of the talking, but she spoke for the pair.
“You have been through the wars today. You’ve taken out two guards and you
look like you could use a rest.” She guided me to a seated position and pushed a
carton of liquid under my nose. “Drink this.”
I was thirsty, now that there was fluid available. I hadn’t had time to think about
it until now. I had half the carton down my neck before I surfaced for air. ‘Make
that four guards.’
Far from being pleased by this, they both looked at each other, then gave me the
slitty eye treatment. “You are far too important to be risking your life in all this
action-man stuff. Just remember, you do the brain work and let us do the rest.”
Lyra said it, but she was speaking for Filicia as well. These two were more like
one now. They had spent so much time together that they thought as one unit. Two
against one was unfair odds; I returned to my drink. I didn’t dare mention that I
had been cut short in my Teacher session and that I was now running on a mental
overload-bypass. I could keel over at any time and be out of it for hours. And I
especially didn’t even want to think about the fact that I didn’t know how to pilot
the shuttle. That was another something I had best keep to myself.
The guards appeared unceremoniously through the closet. There were a pair of
my fellow escapees per guard; one pulling each arm. Not a very dignified way to
travel. I stood up for a more commanding effect as the two bodies were dumped
unceremoniously onto the floor. ‘I need two volunteers to pose as guards. They
need to be cool under pressure and willing to take out any opposition without
hesitation.’
Of the group of four tough guys, two had their hands up before I had finished
speaking. The third put his hand up at the end and the fourth put his hand up after
his colleague slapped him in the chest with the back of his open hand. The first
pair were the ones I needed. ‘Thank you.’
I pointed at the two key volunteers. ‘You two lucky people are going to be our
new guards.’
They nodded stoically in unison. ‘The rest of you, help strip the armour off of
those guards. You two better start getting your clothes off.’
They hesitated. They may have been tough, but they seemed shy. ‘Move!’
You would have thought that they would have been used to getting undressed in
public on Arslykus. Maybe it was a long time since they had been humiliated by
the authorities. It wasn’t as if I was asking them to strip off their underwear or
anything.
I wasn’t watching them strip, but when I heard giggling from some of the
younger girls I looked around. The two guys were butt naked. Lyra came over to
me.
“Not everyone wears underwear you know.”
No, I didn’t know actually. Now I find out. Oops! ‘Girls. Come over here.’
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By distracting the female elements over to me, I thought it would give the guys
the chance to get into the guards’ uniforms and retain some dignity. The guards
were wearing a thin body-suit under the armour, and it was necessary to remove
this as well to stop the armour chaffing. Unfortunately, at the moment of death
their muscles had relaxed and the armour was soiled internally, the worst of it
being in the body-suits.
This required a bit of executive action as everybody was just looking at the state
of the armour and not handling it. Not the most pleasant of duties, but it had to be
done. We had all done worse though so it shouldn’t be a problem.
The two new guards were standing naked up in the corner, holding their old
clothes strategically to hide their embarrassment. That’s when the two women who
had been cleaning up next door emerged from the closet. They were not shocked
by the naked men standing in the corner, but they were clearly amused. I am sure I
would have found it funny too, if I hadn’t been responsible for embarrassing the
two guys. Then the red-head came in. A mature woman, she sized up the situation
immediately and gave her own orders to two of the younger girls.
“Strip the sheets and pillow cases off the bed and bring them here.”
She picked four of the younger men.
“Get those body suits off of those guards and stick them in that sink over there.”
She waited there until the girls returned with the sheets and pillow cases.
“Give me the sheets. You, take one pillow case and wet it in the sink. Come
back here and wipe the inside of the armour. You, use the other pillow case to dry
the armour when she has wiped it.”
The four young men had removed the body suits without difficulty and one had
carried the load over to the sink. She shouted across at him.
“Well don’t just look at them. Turn the water on and wash the stink out of those
things.”
She turned back to the three remaining young men. “Stack those bodies neatly
against the wall.”
They made short work of this task, three to a body, and she nodded
acknowledgement of their action as they returned to their seated positions on the
floor. She took one of the sheets and covered the bodies up. I must admit that I felt
more comfortable with them covered up, but perhaps that was just my guilt at
having sent them to meet their maker before their time.
The girl with the damp pillow case had finished one set of body armour and was
starting on the next. Her friend was following behind and drying the armour. The
red-head went over to the sink and supervised the wringing of the water out of the
suits. When she was satisfied, she gave them the remaining sheet and got them to
roll the suits up in it. I got the idea now. She was going to dry them still further by
putting them in contact with the dry sheet. That is something I would never have
thought of in a million years. That was about the best that could be done to make
the armour habitable for our replacement guards.
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Our replacement guards pulled on the body suits and started getting into the
armour. Her job done, the red-head came over to us. I smiled at her. ‘Thank you.
That was well handled.’
She smiled back. “I came from a big family. Before I was taken, I had to help my
mum look after the younger ones. Babies produce an awful lot of that kind of stuff.
I guess I just got used to it! …It’s time you closed the secret bulkhead door.”
I looked at her. This meant that the old man wouldn’t be coming that way.
‘You quickly just check at the outer door and I’ll close the bulkhead as soon as
you have, ok?’
She nodded and bounded off through the closet, with me lagging behind. She
didn’t want the bulkhead closed, but she knew it had to be done at some point. She
was glad to be relieved of the responsibility for it. She returned very rapidly, but
without that lilt in her step.
I kicked the inside wall of the closet and the door lumbered shut. She looked at
me. “He can always come through the normal bulkhead.”
I just nodded. If he came that way then he would have to be quick. And I don’t
know how he would get from Zone 5 to the security section either. I looked at the
timer: Twenty Nine.
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17 Shuttle
I had to come up with a plan and yet I didn’t know where we were exactly, and I
didn’t know where the shuttles were either. This plan was going to be brief. Find
the shuttles, pick one out and come back here to get the others.
I indicated for the two guards to come over. They had just finished putting on
their gear. Despite the fact that I knew they were on our side, they still looked evil
and menacing. They had the blast rifles slung over their shoulders and they
certainly seemed comfortable with them. Good. The red-head, Lyra and Filicia
were nearby, waiting. When the guards arrived I laid out the plan.
‘Ok, here′s the plan. We leave one guard here by the door. He will be the
marker so we know where this place is. It would be hopeless for us to forget where
we left you. The other guard and I will go out and find a shuttle. When we have
one, we will remove any opposition to us keeping it and I’ll send the guard back to
get the rest of you. Come along fully armed and take out any opposition. It’s going
to take at least a couple of trips to get all this gear on board.’
‘If somebody is not back here when this timer says fifteen, then all of you come
anyway with the gear and blast your way through if you have to.’
Lyra and Filicia had been frowning during the plan and now they just shook
their heads negatively. The red-head took a different tack. “It’s not a bad plan, but
it could use a bit of refinement. Only a guard can walk around with a blast rifle
without starting a fight, and in your plan you get left unguarded. … I’ll go with
both guards. We’ll leave this door open and have somebody watching the corridor.
If somebody other than you comes down the corridor we’ll shut the door until they
pass. When we find the shuttle, we’ll remove resistance and send one guard back
to get you. That leaves an armed guard with the shuttle.”
Filicia and Lyra were nodding affirmatively to this plan. Mutiny; conspiracy!
‘Look that isn’t going to work. Since I’m the only one with pilot training, I am
the only one who can select the right type of shuttle. We can’t go in a fuel tanker or
an ore extractor. Would you know the difference?’
At least I had received that much of the shuttle training; I could spot the type of
shuttle we needed. I glared interrogatively at first the red-head, then Lyra, then
Filicia. They wilted a bit under the glare but recovered quickly. Lyra settled it.
“Look we don’t have time to make that many trips. We all have to go now. The
guards are more likely to think that there is nothing wrong if all of us are involved.
We leave two here. One with a blast rifle and one in the doorway. You two blues
should lead the way, with the two guards right behind you. This should be an
impressive display of authority. The rest of us will follow along. Three of us will
be carrying hidden blast rifles and we won’t carry too much gear. If anyone goes
down we can pick up the goods. If the real guards get suspicious, we will just have
to take them out and gain more weapons. Gretchen will guide us back here; she has
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a photographic memory. She will be able to find her way back here without any
problem.”
The red-head handed me a knife and also handed one to Lyra. These were
beautiful killing weapons. Thin Cutalloy blades; it was evident that they were
extremely sharp. “Remember that these will go through the guard’s armour, but
only if you strike with full power. You’ll never get a chance to use that much
power in a hand to hand fight, so you should go for an opening in the armour: into
the armpit or under the helmet.”
Well I guess that ended the debate. We were going. I addressed the room. ‘Ok,
everyone with a blast rifle, over here.’
I had placed mine against the wall and now I retrieved it. Two men and a woman
came over with the rifles. I figured that if they had the rifles, they would be willing
to use them. They wouldn’t have taken them if that weren’t the case. I addressed
the whole room. ‘Ok, we’re going out. We need somebody to watch this door and
somebody to stay behind with a blast rifle to guard the stuff.’
Hands appeared everywhere. I picked a girl and she called out.
“I’ll watch the door.”
I nodded to this and most of the hands went down. That left the person staying
behind with the blast rifle. I noticed a rugged looking individual with his hand up
and nodded my head in his direction. He came over and I passed him my blast rifle.
The red-head was by my side. “Right, I’ll show you how to use those rifles.
Come over here.”
I was glad she took responsibility for showing them how to use the weapons. I
didn’t know much about them myself. The seven of them huddled by a wall as she
quickly took them through the controls.
‘Ok, the rest of you, form up in a column of twos, but don’t carry too much
stuff. If anybody goes down then you need to split their load up amongst a couple
of you. We will come back for the wounded on a later trip, if we can. Remember,
we need all these supplies and it’s going to take us at least two trips to get it all on
board.’
I addressed the room generally. ‘Gretchen?’
I didn’t know who Gretchen was until she answered. “Yes sir.”
It was the girl guide; that made sense. ‘Gretchen, you have to remember the way
back here. You just volunteered to lead the others back here after we find a
shuttle.’
She beamed. She obviously liked the opportunity to help, even if it put her in
extra personal danger. “Yes sir!” Actually this was still probably a bit of an
adventure for everyone and not fully real yet. Only a few of us had been involved
in the fighting so far.
But Gretchen has been in both combat situations and was still confidant. In fact,
come to think of it, anyone in the city would have arrived on Arslykus having seen
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more than their fair share of death. I guess that made everyone battle-hardened to
some degree.
We formed up the column within the confines of the apartment, the red-head and
myself being in front, with the two guards immediately behind us. The rest sorted
themselves out.
The three with the blast rifles concealed them and took lesser loads of supplies,
allowing them to be ready for action more quickly. There was no time to organise
everything down to the last detail. It looked like there were more than twenty of us.
It was quite an impressive looking column.
I activated the door and boldly stepped out, straight into the path of a single
guard. He immediately started talking to me whilst glancing around the inside of
the apartment
“Hey, what the hell are you lot doing in there. This is a restricted area. I’m going
to have to report th…” He didn’t have a chance to finish. The red-head had been
moving to his side as he had been talking to me and she had thrust her knife up
under the back of his helmet. Much easier than all that Martial Arts kicking and
striking stuff. The column hadn’t started yet so there was no momentum to
dissipate. The red-head and I just dragged the body back into the apartment, around
the corner away from the column. There was no time for niceties now.
She wiped the excess blood off of the blade by two rapid strokes across the
lining of the guard’s armour; this being just visible as he lay flat on his back on the
floor. Whilst she was doing this, I inspected the floor and wiped the area with my
foot to obscure the small blood splatters that had occurred. It would not draw
attention to itself now.
We formed up into our positions again and started the column off down the
corridor. I couldn’t understand what the guard was doing in the white zone. Then I
saw signs on the doors for various store rooms. We were in the security section!
But how, we couldn’t have crossed the white zone, because all the zones were
surrounded by the next lower zone. The answer lay ahead. We headed up a steep
incline then down the other side. This corridor jumped over the white corridor!
By the sounds we were hearing, it was clear that we were approaching an open
barracks area. There was a sign to the shuttle bays. As we marched past the
barracks room a voice called out.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
I whispered to the red-head. ‘Just keep going. He isn’t going to start shooting
without finding out who we are. That will give us a chance to get clear of the
barracks area and we will have more chance of taking him out without stirring up
the whole troop.’
“Sounds good to me.”
The sound of heavy boots followed us down the corridor.
“Hey, you, stop. Hey!”
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We just kept on walking at a constant pace until the guard physically grabbed
hold of me. Then we all stopped. He was not properly attired: his jacket was
undone and he wasn’t wearing a helmet. I took the initiative.
‘What do you think you are doing? We are acting on the direct authority of
Senior Founder Tilallnic. And why are you out of uniform?’
This had him on the spot. “Er, well, I’m sorry sir, I was just coming on duty sir.
May I escort you sir?”
‘It’s alright, we are just loading up a shuttle.”
His eyes changed. He was suspicious now.
“But we’re heading out of the system after two weeks of acceleration. Where
could anybody possibly go in a shuttle? I’m going to have to get clearance for
this.”
This was the red-head’s cue. She had been moving subtly as he had been talking
to me and now she struck with precision to the throat with her concealed knife. The
guard would have dropped noisily to the ground had I not grabbed his limp form
and lowered it gently to the floor. Both the red-head and I got splattered with blood
when she cut the guard’s throat. We would not pass even a casual inspection now.
More importantly, we needed to come back this way to get the supplies. This
guard had to be hidden for at least twenty minutes. I shot a glance at our two tame
guards. ‘Check the corridor ahead. See if you can find an empty room or a storage
area where we can dump this body.’
They double-timed down the corridor looking for a hiding space. The red-head
and I used one hand each to drag the guard down the corridor. One of the
following conspirators produced some sort of cloth from a pocket and gave the
floor a quick wipe. Good thinking. As we rounded the next corner, our guards were
indicating to a dark room with the door open. Excellent. We were going to get
away with it again. We had just about got to the door, when heavy steps came up to
us from behind.
“Hey, what happened?”
He got closer and I got ready.
“What are you …”
I spun about and was confronted by a fully armoured guard. The move was
already planned. As I spun, I released the arm of the dead guard and prepared the
knife which had been concealed in my other hand. A useful tip for hiding a knife:
hold the handle in your fist with the blade pointing up your arm. The red-head had
said that these blades would penetrate the armour if driven hard.
The only thing I had to do was strike hard and straight. An angled blow would
undoubtedly skid off the armour. I focused all my attention on driving the blade
through the armour. I did not feel the blade drive through the guard’s flesh. It just
drove through the armour and then there was no further resistance. In the blink of
an eye the guard was going down. His expression was one of surprise rather than
pain. He couldn’t believe that life was slipping from him; he was not prepared.
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When I pulled the knife out this hastened the guard’s departure. Now we had
two bodies to hide. He had arrived just in time to be unceremoniously consigned to
the storage locker. Trouble is that he wasn’t yet dead.
Our guards pulled the bodies into the storage room and noticed him still
quivering.
“Joran, this one isn’t quite dead. We should finish him off.”
He was raising his weapon. The red-head interrupted him just in time.
“Not with a gun! Do you want the whole barracks down here, spoiling for a
fight?”
She stepped into the store room and after a sort of strangled whimper from her
victim she came out again. And the old man was worried about me being a killing
machine! She had a grim look on her face. This wasn’t pleasant work, but it had to
be done. There were too many lives riding on it.
With the store room door closed and the corridor floor wiped, we started up in
convoy again. The only difference was that the guards were in front now. Both the
red-head and I were looking like something from a slaughter house. We would
draw fire the moment we were seen. At least the guards in front would delay the
inevitable, possibly giving us a chance to get up close and use our knives.
As it turns out, we were there: Shuttle Bay 1. Our guards covered the corridor
whilst I activated the door release. The doors slid open quickly to reveal a welcome
sight; a passenger shuttle. I hurried in and opened the shuttle’s large rear outer
door and the column of workers carried the goods inside. As they passed, I gave
them simple instructions. ‘Just pile the stuff as far to the sides as it will go. Don’t
block the aisles.’
The ones with guns unsheathed them and stood around aimlessly; that is until
the red-head saw them. “Spread out and take defensive positions.”
She was treating them like soldiers. How would they know what a defensive
position was? Well, the idea seemed to communicate as they knelt down behind
various drums and boxes that were scattered around inside the shuttle bay.
The bay was actually much larger than the shuttle. It was evident that this was a
service area as well. Any maintenance work that needed doing on the shuttle could
obviously be done here. It would make the launch process slower, as the air would
have to be pumped into storage tanks first, but speed was not really a priority.
Of course if speed was a priority, then the air could just be vented to space.
Obviously this was not ordinarily done because air was a precious commodity on
an inter-stellar space ship.
The loading was done very quickly and the column re-formed for the return
journey; minus me, the red-head and the three with the blast rifles.
It was unfortunate that the two guards we had taken out were unarmed; we could
have used a few more blast rifles. So far we had suffered no casualties. That was so
far. Now was the tough bit. They had to go back through the perilous area twice
more.
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The red-head had wanted to go, but I pointed out that she was too blood-stained
to go. This blood stain would cause them to be found out. She was also wounded in
the shoulder, although that did not seem to have slowed her down in the slightest..
I still had more orders to give.
‘Ok, you two guards go first, with Lyra and Gretchen behind. Gretchen will tell
you which way to go and Lyra will take out any opposition, quietly if possible.’
Lyra gave me a grim smile. She was a killer even with unarmed combat; I had no
doubt that she would be even more effective with a knife. I was worried about
Filicia though. ‘Filicia, you should stay here.’
She wasn’t having any of that. “I may not be firing on all cylinders, but I can
carry stuff, and that’s what we need now. I need to carry my own weight.”
She had a point and there was no time left to argue. ‘Ok, listen-up. We are
running out of time. You have to get the stuff, as much as you can carry. We can’t
afford another trip back there. You will have two extra people to help you carry
stuff on the way back. Sneak back to that room quietly. On the way back you may
have no choice but to just blast your way through. Oh, and when the shooting
starts, you guard types better lose your helmets so that none of us gets confused
and takes you out. Remember this whole place is going up soon so don’t hang
around. Good luck and get going.’
My Technician was at the rear of the column and the red-head gave him her
knife. I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t feel he was the right type to have the knife.
It’s not that he couldn’t have been trained to use it eventually, it’s just that I felt he
might be too hesitant and could therefore get himself and others killed.
The column marched out of the door as planned and we were left to wait. It’s a
terrible thing having to wait like that. All you can do is wonder what is happening.
Are they still alive? Have they been caught? Will they make it in time? It’s better
to actually be in the fight. At least you don’t have to worry. The worry is worse
than the danger.
I was about to go back into the shuttle to see how the gear had been stowed,
when a Security technician appeared from a side door. He called out in surprise.
“Hey what are you doing in here?”
He looked around and saw the guns and turned to run back into the side room.
The three armed escapees panicked and started shooting wildly. They shot up that
whole end of the bay, but somehow managed to miss the technician. He returned to
the shelter of the side room and the firing stopped. I looked at the red-head.
‘That room can’t lead anywhere surely. This door is an air-lock. There wouldn’t
be more than one of them in here would there?’
She shook her head negatively. One of the guys with a blast rifle was shaking
violently. I relieved him of the gun and panned it slightly from side to side as I
closed in on the door. The red-head accompanied me so I passed her my knife. She
opened the door and I stood back a bit, covering the entrance with my rifle. It was
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a very small storeroom and the technician in there was cowering up one corner. I
lowered my rifle.
‘Listen you, this whole ship is going up in less than twenty five minutes. You can
either stay here and go up with it or come with us. I don’t want to hurt you.’
He unburied his face from his hands and looked up tentatively. When he saw
that my rifle was lowered he felt more confident and stood up.
“What do you mean the ship is going up; you mean it’s going to explode?”
‘Yes.’
“In that case I’ll come with you.”
‘Smart move. Come on out and take a seat where we can see you, until it’s time
to leave.’
He came out of the room and settled himself on some of the crates around the
edges of the bay. The red-head came close to me, whilst keeping a watchful eye on
the technician. She whispered very quietly, as sound travelled a long way in metal
enclosed areas.
“We could do without an extra mouth to feed.”
‘I know, but a technician who knows about this shuttle could come in handy.
Besides, I don’t like the idea of killing-off the innocent. That would make us no
better than them.’
She took the point and left it at that. Then she turned back to the technician.
“Are there any others in these side rooms.”
She was still holding the knife, although she wasn’t actually brandishing it.
Nevertheless, I noticed the technician’s eyes following the knife with some
trepidation.
‘I wouldn’t think so, but you should check, in case somebody came in when I
was in my den. After all, you all came in and I didn’t notice it.’
I couldn’t help smiling at this. Fortunately the red-head noticed that she was
playing with the knife and put it away. This was a visible relief to the technician
and he started smiling back. This would be fine. I pointed directions to one of our
armed companions. He searched the rest of the side rooms in the bay, accompanied
by his nervous friend, and found them to be empty. Nevertheless it was tense when
each new door was opened. When they were all done we relaxed a bit. Well, except
for the woman guarding the main entrance door.
All she could do was sit and watch the door. She had to be ready if the door
opened. There would be no warning; it would just open. At least when the other
two were finished on their sweep she had other eyes watching the door as well, but
this did not mean that she could relax.
Time was dragging and I kept looking at the timer. Each count on the readout
seemed to take an hour rather than a minute. I would die of old age before they
returned.
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I had been alternately pacing backwards and forwards then leaning against the
shuttle. This was not filling the time adequately, but it used up some excess energy
at least. Then I remembered that I had not inspected how the shopping had been
stowed in the shuttle.
I realised that I had embarrassed the nervous guy by taking the rifle off of him.
Things were quiet now and I needed to go into the shuttle. It made more sense for
him to have the weapon back and it might restore his confidence. Having used the
gun a little, he was not going to make the same mistakes again, that was for sure. I
just walked over to him and handed him the gun without comment. He didn’t say
anything, but his body language expressed gratitude. I had given him a second
chance. He wouldn’t let us down again.
I made a hand sign to the red-head in the direction of the shuttle and she seemed
to get the message; I disappeared into the rear door to see how the gear had been
stowed.
It was not the most orderly of arrangements, but then again there was nothing
specific I could fault. The bags had been packed tightly against the side walls of
the shuttle. There was plenty of space and not very much luggage really. The
passages by the walls were quite restricted, but the centre aisle was clear.
With a column of two seats wide on the left and three seats wide on the right,
and with a total of eight rows, there was plenty of spare seating capacity. Also, as
these seats were, amongst other things, designed to carry storm troopers in full
body armour, there were no width or leg room restrictions to speak of.
It was unfortunate that there were not very many storage lockers on board. It
meant that we would have to spend the whole trip stumbling over the supplies.
There was nothing that could be done here, or at least nothing that needed to be
done. Sure I could have fiddled about with the packing, but that wouldn’t have
added very much and I wanted to be ready when the others came back.
You would have thought that I would have entered the control cabin and
familiarised myself with the controls. That would have been the sensible thing to
do. To be honest I was not thinking clearly about the situation. I was still expecting
the old man to arrive and fly the shuttle.
I emerged from the shuttle having done nothing with the goods stowed on board.
Everything outside the shuttle was as I left it, which should not have been very
surprising. I was only on board the shuttle for a few minutes, even if it seemed like
forever.
Pressing ones ear against the door to listen to what was happening outside was
not a smart move. If the door opened then one would be blocking the line of fire of
the defenders and would be putting oneself in mortal danger. I took the less
informative but equally more secure method of putting my ear to the wall near to
the door. Nothing. All I got for my troubles was a cold ear. I resumed my pacing.
I was not good at this waiting game. I wanted to be out there fighting for my life
along with everyone else; not safe and secure in this hiding place. Come to think of
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it, we weren’t all that safe here. No. That’s not true. If anybody came here they
would be in ones or twos and would be investigating or just patrolling. Out there it
was a whole different story. If shooting started then they would be pounced upon
by the entire Security force in a matter of moments and the fighting would be up-
close and personal. Although it has to be said the security force wouldn’t
necessarily be armed all the time. They might have to go to a central arms locker to
get weapons and that would slow down their counter-attack considerably.
A person could go mad figuring out the possibilities in a situation like this. The
sooner it was over the better. If the whole damn Security force attacked us now it
would have been a relief. An attack would stop the interminable speculations,
worries and counter-speculations. I drifted over to the wall again and listened.
There was something going on down the corridor, something very loud but far
away.
I realised that I could and should put my talents to use. I called across to the
security technician. ‘Hey, get me some tools here. I need to rig this door so that it
can’t be opened from the outside.’
He hurried over with a toolkit, much like my own as it happened. I was pulling
the cover plate off as he talked. “I doubt that you can make the door only operate
from one side. About the best that you can expect to do is to rig it so that it won’t
open at all from either side.”
Unfortunately, I agreed with his analysis. I would have to manually close the
door when everyone was inside then cut the wiring: all of it, as I didn’t have a
wiring diagram for it. ‘Well, I guess I’ll just have to rip out this section of wiring
then. That should stop it opening.’
“Yes it will. Unfortunately it will also break the interlock mechanism and you
won’t be able to open the main bay doors from the shuttle. Look. There is the
power feed to the actuator. Just cut that one and this door won’t open. Cut the
sensor wire and we are history.”
Thank goodness we had this guy on board. I could have ruined the whole deal! I
signalled to the defenders to move up, one either side of the door. This way, when
the door opened they would get a firing line in both directions of the corridor. I
stayed to the left of the door because that is where the open-switch was. The
technician moved back out of the way, behind the nervous defender.
I hadn’t given the red-head time to react and she was still behind a makeshift
barricade near the shuttle. I pressed the open switch and the door slid back to
reveal a battle. We didn’t see it at first, we heard it. Shouts of people being hit and
rifle fire were the first sounds we heard. The noise was mostly coming from the
direction we had come from, the left, but there were Security staff setting up a
barricade in the corridor to our right. They saw us and we saw them almost at the
same time. It was a question of who was the most surprised and who reacted
fastest.
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We had the edge because we had activated the door. Thus we were expecting the
door to open and they were not. In a situation like this, that can be all the
difference it takes; a split second separating life from death. Unfortunately the
Security troops were battle hardened veterans and they were arrayed against the
nervous defender kneeling by my side. The veterans got in the first shot and blew
the face off the security technician.
Now the nervous defender was galvanised into action. The beam had shot just
over his head and taken out the security technician standing behind him. Its
difficult to know if he knew the security technician had gone down; probably not.
In any case he returned fire; his one and only shot.
I don’t know how the setting on his rifle got changed, but it was set to full
overload discharge. It wasn’t set like that before and there was no way it could get
to that setting by accident. He must have been determined to do better this time and
had overdone it. Nevertheless, that setting had done the trick. All five guards, the
barricade and half the corridor were blown to hell. That setting was a one shot
deal. It dumped the energy core of the rifle in one shot, wrecking the rifle and
making a real mess of anything in its range.
Our nervous defender dropped the weapon as soon as he had fired it, not least of
which was because it became too hot to hold. The blast rifle was now just lying on
the floor looking and smelling in a somewhat melted state. The pity of it was that
the guns from the Security team in the corridor would be unusable as well. I
assumed this from the fact that there were gaping holes in the walls and ceiling and
there wasn’t a large lump of anything visible amongst the smoke filled cloud in the
corridor.
The smoke was diluted with water vapour from the incinerated bodies. It was a
disgusting smell, or perhaps I just interpreted it as a disgusting smell because it
was the smell of five men that had been burnt and vaporised. That couldn’t be a
pleasant smell, could it? The nervous defender was just staring down at his weapon
on the floor; he was definitely in a bewildered state.
Some time must have elapsed, because the red-head turned up by my side and
took a look out at the corridor; first in the direction of the bodies and then in the
direction we were expecting our colleagues to arrive. And arrive they did. The
red-head only just managed to get out of the way in time, as they came pounding
down the corridor piled high with supplies.
They didn’t stop when they entered the shuttle bay, they just kept running until
they were safely inside the shuttle. I don’t blame them; I would have done the
same. After all, their only means of survival was to run; they had no weapons. The
defender to the right of the door stood and made as if to go down the corridor to
where the action was. The red-head cut him short in this tracks.
“You stay right there! We need you here. Most of them will be here in just a few
moments. The object here is to get most of us to safety. I’m not having you risk
yourself and us to help the last few. You stay there!”
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The defender knew who was in charge by her tone of voice. There was no
menace, it was simply force of will. He knew she had the authority and he bowed
to it. I was impressed by her control of the situation.
I did not realise that I had been inadvertently holding my breath, but I heaved a
sigh of relief when Filicia and Lyra hurried through the door. They were not
carrying very much luggage; Filicia had obviously taken a hit in the shoulder and
Lyra was half carrying her and the shopping. There was no time to stop and talk;
they just kept moving to the shuttle. I wanted to rush after them, but I could not
leave as I had to fix the door lock once the door was closed. It wouldn’t do to have
this door opened before we started to de-pressurised the bay. Once the outer bay
doors were open, of course, we would be safe from the security personnel.
There was not long to wait as the friendly guard, less his helmet, stumbled in the
door a few moments later. He was not unscathed himself, having a blaster burn on
his cheek and some sort of wound to his leg.
“I’m the last one. Close the door.” For some reason I poked my head out of the
door; a blaster bolt shot past my head, charring the door frame. Fortunately these
guards were following instructions and using a sensible power setting inside the
ship. It would cause the repair crews weeks of work if they blew a hole in the
pressure bulkheads. The red-head grabbed me by my tunic and hauled even further
from the door.
“Get your damned head out of the line of fire you idiot! Who the hell is going
to fly the shuttle if you get your damned fool head blown off? Now make yourself
useful and seal up this door so they can’t get in.”
I pressed the close switch and signalled to the defenders to get on board the
shuttle. This was a direction they were keen to go in anyway so they complied in
double quick time. That left me with the lock. I cut the feed to the actuator and the
job was done.
Of course a technician would be able to undo the door from the other side given
time, but a few minutes was all the time we would need. Once the main doors were
opened it would be fatal for them to open this door. The air in the corridor
wouldn’t last five seconds against the greater opening of these main shuttle bay
doors.
We headed for the shuttle at no great rush. It all seemed a bit distant now. The
immediate panic was over now that nobody was actually firing at us. The red-head,
I never could remember her real name, came up to me with tears forming in her
eyes. The blood splattered on her uniform had dried and formed crusty patches on
the silky smooth material. Although she had taken out three guards with a knife,
she seemed somehow frail at this moment.
“You have to leave now, stick with the plan. I’m going back to look for him.” I
noticed that she had a lightweight jacket hanging from one hand and a blast rifle
dangling from the other. After she had finished speaking she put down the rifle and
put on the jacket, covering over the blood stains.
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I pulled the timer out of my pocket and looked first at it, and then incredulously
at her. She had taken a rifle from one of the defenders as they entered the shuttle
and now she had placed it on the floor.
‘Are you mad? You know this whole place is going up in less than ten minutes.
We have to leave now and you have to come with us. Besides, I just sealed the
airlock. There’s no way out of here.’
She nodded her head slowly: no. “No, you don’t understand. He’s my man and
I’m not going to leave him. As for the way out, I talked with the technician when
you were checking out the shuttle. He said that Founders had been known to go
into that storage room over there and not come out. I found the exit and opened it.
That’s the way I’m going. Your women are here with you. Take them and get the
hell out of here now. Don’t wait for me. I won’t be coming back this way.”
She moved up close to me and her two inch height advantage was more
apparent. She grabbed me and kissed me full on the lips. Her lips tasted of pure
woman. My legs went a bit weak as she released her grip and stepped back. With
her left hand she reached up behind her neck and pulled her collar off.
“I won’t be needing this pretence anymore!” Throwing the collar to the ground,
she stooped to pick up the blast rifle. Her hair had been tied back and now she
released it. With her long red-hair trailing behind her, she went into the storage
room and pulled it closed behind her. I watched as the door closed and she turned,
mouthing some words at me. It looked like ‘good luck’ to me. That was one hell of
a good woman!
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18 Escape
I just stood in the doorway of the shuttle looking vacantly at the closed storage
room door. A hand appeared on my left shoulder and this made me move.
Otherwise I might just have stood staring after the red-head. It was Lyra’s hand,
attached to a rather dishevelled looking Lyra. Well, I guess we had all had a rather
rough time. I probably looked a lot rougher than her.
I slowly reached up behind my neck and pulled off my collar. It landed near the
red-head’s. Lyra, seeing me do this, did the same with hers. I closed up the shuttle
door and went through to the flight deck. Everyone was getting ready for lift off.
As they saw us walk through without collars, they just start discarding their own
collars. We were fully committed. Like the man said, there was no going back!
I had an almost irresistible impulse to go over to Filicia and see how she was
doing. I couldn’t do it. All these lives were now in my hands and I had to
de-pressurise the shuttle bay before anybody could get to the internal door
mechanism. I just glanced briefly in Filicia’s direction without breaking step. The
med tech was with her and I could not see her face.
They were all trusting me now and I had never even been on a flight deck
before. I was only supposed to be the co-pilot; to help out the old man. Now I was
the pilot, all on my own. Well, not quite all on my own. Lyra was sitting in the co-
pilot’s seat. I started strapping myself into the pilot’s seat. ‘Hey, I thought I asked
you to look after Filicia.’
She looked at me fiercely. “I did. The med tech is with her now. She’s not doing
too badly. When she heard that the old man hadn’t made it, she told me to look
after you. She didn’t ask me; she told me.”
I was embarrassed by her anger at me. ‘I’m sorry. I’m just worried about her.
That looked like a bad wound. Look I could use the company here, so …thanks.’
She spoke a lot more sensitively and reached out her arm to place her hand on
my forearm. “I was worried about her too.”
We didn’t say anything else. There was nothing else left to say. I needed to get
this shuttle out of here now. I ran my hands across all the controls and dials in front
of me. Easy. No problem. This was a highly de-centralised control system. Each
part worked as independently of the rest as possible. You could get a blaster and
blow parts of the control board away and the bits that weren’t hit would almost
certainly carry on working. There were multiple power paths, multiple controls and
multiple everything else you could think of. This system was designed to carry on
working under the most arduous of circumstances.
There was a large prominent lever switch on the wall by the pilot’s seat. It was
the Master Power switch: the on/off switch. I turned it on. Lights started blinking
on throughout the control panel as system after system started-up and went through
a self-diagnostic routine. A computerised female voice pervaded the air.
“System self-test in progress. Please state your ID for voice recognition.”
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Well I didn’t have an ID and my voice wasn’t on file. This was obviously part of
the Security protocol that didn’t come with the Teacher training package. I would
just have to play this by ear. ‘Computer: Select manual mode and turn off voice
recognition.’
The shuttle computer wasn’t having this at all. “Voice command not accepted.
No authorisation.”
To hell with the computer. I knew that the controls would run the shuttle
regardless of the computer. My only problem was finding the right controls. I knew
what they did and how they did it, but I actually needed to find the right control.
They were all labelled, of course, but there were a lot of them. Right now I had to
open the outer airlock door. The inner door was closed and that meant that control
of the outer door was possible from the shuttle. There was a switch in here that
instructed the airlock to open. Which one was it?
Normal pilots would use the voice commands and if the computer failed then
use these switches as a backup. I had not had my voice patterns recorded so I had
to find the damn switch myself. There; there it was. A simple push and a woman’s
computerised voice spoke out.
“Warning. This control opens the outer bay doors. The bay has not yet been
de-pressurised. Opening the bay doors will vent the air.”
The voice was so natural that I couldn’t help talking back. ‘I know that, just
open the bloody door!’
With this I stabbed the button again with my finger. The computer continued.
“Voice command not accepted. No authorisation. The outer airlock door is now
opening.”
It would have taken too long to reduce the pressure in the bay by the normal
means and besides, they wouldn’t need the air for much longer anyway. The doors
had only opened slightly when the escape of air from the bay became noticeable.
There were all sorts of light-weight materials being drawn out through the ever
increasing gap. This was unusual as well because when the bay was de-pressurised
normally there was no high speed air around to move this material and it would
just stay put.
This computer was going to give me grief every time I opened my mouth. I
looked for the computer control disable. “Warning this button turns off the voice
command computer control system.” Good! I pressed it again.
“Voice command computer control deactivated.”
Thank goodness for that. By now the outer airlock was almost fully open.
Leaving the control column in a neutral position, I pushed the single thrust-lever
forward a little and I could feel the engines do an auto-start. They were producing
thrust, but we were not moving. I increased the thrust and we did move a little, but
with a shrieking, grinding sound of metal on metal.
Oh shit. We were still on the deck! I needed to lift us off the deck. I grabbed
hold of the control column and pulled back on it hard, too hard. The forward thrust
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control was on far too high a setting and I had pulled back on the control column
too hard as well. There was a sudden surge of acceleration and we shot off from
the landing position at a forty-five degree angle. From the tearing and crashing
sounds that we heard through the hull, it was evident that we didn’t quite clear the
outer bay doors cleanly. I had lifted us up too sharply and caught the back of the
shuttle on the exit.
What I should have done is applied a bit of lift with the control column, and
when we were off the deck, a slight forward thrust and we would have slipped out
of the shuttle bay easily. As it was, I had made a real of mess of it.
I wasn’t concerned about drawing attention to the shuttle. After all, we had just
had a fire fight with the Security guards. By now they would know that we had a
shuttle. What worried me was the amount of damage that I might have done to the
shuttle. I could look into that when we had more time.
When we were cross-wiring the hyper-spatial generator power feeds, maybe we
could have also disabled the power feeds to the weapons arrays. The trouble with
that was it could have attracted attention to the power generation area and
somebody might have spotted the ‘modifications’. No, amend that; if a Founder
went there he would have immediately spotted what had been done. You couldn’t
hide a power feed that big and that would have been the end of us.
My path was clear. Having shot out of the shuttle bay, I had to blast off at
right-angles to the ship’s course. This would put us in the blind spot and there was
no way the ship could turn now. It was heading out of the system and had reached
cruising speed after two weeks of acceleration. They would not have time to turn
the ship and come after us before the timer went off.
There was no worry about them launching another shuttle to come after us. Why
bother? The shuttles were only lightly armed and these weapons would be
relatively ineffectual against the Duralloy hulls. Given equally powered shuttles,
even ramming would not be easy for them to do.
We had emerged from the shuttle bay at an impossible speed and I immediately
veered us off to the side to avoid the ship’s guns. The danger from these did not
seem as bad as I had expected. Perhaps it was because I had shot out of the shuttle
bay so fast. Or, then again, perhaps it was the fact that I was so inexperienced that I
wasn’t able to hold the course very straight. I kept overcompensating at the
controls and this must have made a very unpredictable target. Anyway, the guns
did start firing on us, but only one shot came anywhere near to us, and that one
wasn’t very close.
I had the timer balanced on the control panel. It had dropped to four and some
lesser digits had appeared. We waited. One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight; not
long now. I turned the shuttle, enabling us to see the whole of the ship from the
side. Unfortunately I couldn’t stabilise the shuttle, and rather than keep on using
fuel I just let the shuttle rotate slowly relative to the City. This gave the rather
strange view, from our perspective, of the City rotating end over end. Of course if
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you looked at the background star pattern you could see that it was us who were
doing the rotating, but when you concentrated on the Dome in the City, you could
easily convince yourself that it was tumbling end over end.
We waited and watched. My passengers were all able to see on the view screens
in the back of the seats. I turned on the speaker system to tell them what was
happening. ‘When the timer hits zero, the hyper-spatial power generators will be
activated, but it will probably be several minutes after this before we see anything
happen. Ten-Nine-Eight-Seven-Six-Five-Four-Three-Two-One-Zero.’
Nothing happened. A big fat nothing. What was I expecting to happen? I had
told the others that nothing would happen for a few minutes, but I obviously hadn’t
convinced myself. Well now I had a chance to review the plan. The hyper-spatial
generators were by far the most powerful system on the ship. They were four
orders of magnitude more powerful than the gravity generators, the second most
powerful onboard system. Furthermore, both the hyper-spatial generators and the
gravity generators were kept safely out of the way in Zone 2. The Founder’s living
quarters in Zone 2 took up next to no space compared to the generators. The power
generators were both below Zone 2, and in the Zone itself, they took up so much
space.
It was the old man’s plan and he knew a lot more about it than me. I helped out
on the re-wiring, but he was the one who had devised the scheme. We had just
wanted to leave, but he had said no, that would never work. They would come after
us and never let us get away. The Founders prided themselves on never letting
anybody get away. Once you were with the City that was it; there was no going
back and there was no escape. If any escape that would undermine their authority.
Since they were outnumbered nearly a hundred to one, their authority was all they
had.
The only solution was to eliminate the City. This did not sit easily with the few
of us who knew. It wasn’t supposed to be ‘public knowledge’ in our group, but
somehow everyone seemed to know. There were thousands of inhabitants of the
City and many of them were decent people. Ok, it was run by a bunch of
degenerate God-forsaken bastards, but it seemed wrong somehow to kill thousands
to get at the few dozen Founders that remained.
It was something of a shock to me that there were actually so few Founders left.
The trouble was that they had indoctrinated the others lower down the ranks to
carry on with their plans. The whole infrastructure was set up in such a way that
you could actually eliminate the Founders and the lower ranks would just carry on.
After all, if you had the privileges of rank, why would you give them up? Life
could get very comfortable when you attained the rank of Blue and above.
The old man explained that we needed to eliminate the City; not only for
ourselves, but also for the rest of the planets in the Galaxy. In all of its existence,
Arslykus had been like a parasitic life form; destroying the hosts that fed it as it
raped and plundered its way across the Galaxy. It was a diseased organ that needed
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to be excised. The Founders no longer worked at anything; they were not creating
better technology or pushing out the frontiers of knowledge. They just existed in a
kind of stasis, contributing nothing and taking everything. I understood that they
needed to be eliminated intellectually, but I still found it hard to swallow.
This was a case of the greater good for the greater number, but the poor
individuals left behind didn’t have a choice. Nobody asked them if they wanted to
martyr themselves for this sector of the Galaxy. Anyway, I had difficulty thinking
in terms of this much killing being for the best overall. It was easier to just think of
it at a more personal level. If I didn’t help then Filicia, Lyra and myself would be
killed. That was unacceptable so I helped.
I looked at the timer: minus five, minus six, minus seven…
I imagined what was happening now. The old man had gone into Zone 2 and
wired a relay and timer to the hyper-spatial power generators. They would have
turned on seven seconds ago. It took time for them to build up power. They were
designed to deliver a relatively short burst of power so they had to charge the
plasma accumulators first, then the load would be powered one quarter from the
generators and three-quarters from the accumulators. This allowed the generators
to be four times smaller than they might otherwise be; an important issue when the
generators took up so much space.
I was not sure how long it took to power up the generators fully, but it must be
around five minutes. At this point the hyper-spatial field generators would be
automatically energised under normal circumstances. These were not normal
circumstances. I had helped the old man by cross-wiring the gravity field
generators with the hyper-spatial generator power feeds. Of course the gravity field
generators would burn out almost immediately, but in theory they should crush
everything inside the hull completely before they failed. The old man had done
computer modelling on this some time ago. He had been planning his escape long
before I was even kidnapped and brought aboard.
There was no way the old man could model the effect on the hull of course.
There were no figures on Armalloy; no data at all. Given all that it had survived in
the past, he didn’t expect the Armalloy hull to be damaged at all, but he expected
everything inside to be crushed beyond belief. It must have been five minutes after
activation when a small projectile shot out of the Dome area and headed out into
space. Damn, somebody had found out what was happening and fired a missile at
us.
No that wasn’t it. The projectile came from the area near the Dome. There
wouldn’t be missiles near the Dome; it must be a small shuttle or escape pod. I
didn’t have long to contemplate what it was. We had drifted a bit so we now had a
good view of the Dome; when it happened we saw it in all its detail. The first thing
we saw was the Dome collapsing. This was very satisfying, knowing that the
Founders would be there; given that it was late afternoon. A cheer went up through
the shuttle and I can’t say that I didn’t join in. Just moments later there was a
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reversal of direction. Both ends of the ship erupted with pyrotechnic splendour.
The ends of the ship were Duralloy plugs; pressed and stuck into place. These were
partially disintegrated and partially blown away from the ship. This left the
Armalloy hull spouting glowing beams of plasma out of both ends. The biggest
diameter spout was from where the Dome used to be, but as it was such a big area
the pressure wasn’t as high and the effect was not as spectacular.
This spectacle was not what we expected. Of course there was no explosion to
hear, it was just silence. And we all fell silent because we had all left friends
behind in the City; good people who didn’t deserve to die. Now it was clear that
we had succeeded in killing them. I thought of Gron and J’an. The waiter at the
café. The former farmer in the department store. They didn’t deserve to die. Their
faces flashed through my mind and I dare say that other faces flashed through the
minds of the others on the shuttle.
Lyra pointed out through the double-skinned Armaplex shuttle window. “Look!”
The pod that had ejected from the City was coming straight for us. I grabbed the
control column and gently banked us away from the projectile. I was flying the
ship now, I couldn’t start searching the control panel.
‘Lyra, look over the control panel for a switch marked “Weapons”.’
She looked and looked, but had not found it yet. The projectile was getting
closer.
‘Hurry up Lyra, it’s getting closer.’
She took the time to look at me and shout. “I’m looking as fast as I can.”
Damn. By trying to get her to hurry, I had actually slowed her down. She
suddenly became very animated. “I’ve found it.”
Thank goodness. ‘Turn it on.’
The computer voice gave us confirmation. “Weapons system active. Automatic
tracking enabled. One vessel detected on an intercepting trajectory. Weapons lock
established. Select weapon.”
‘Lyra find the button marked ‘Disrupter’, but don’t hit it until I say so.’
She had the weapons system area in sight, so she found the control very quickly
and placed her hand near it. “I’ve got it. I’m ready.”
The vessel was getting closer and seemed to be slowing down. That was odd.
The computer started speaking again. “Vessel identified as a service pod from the
City. It is unarmed.”
No, it couldn’t be, surely. Maybe it was. It was either a Founder, who had
spotted the hook-up and fled, or it was the old man. The thought that of the
thousands we had just killed, one might have survived somehow made everything
better. If the old man had survived then everything would be ok.
I shut the controls down so the shuttle would be predictable and let the service
pod match speed with us. ‘Lyra. Turn off the weapons system.’
She hit the off switch. The computer, helpful as ever, spoke up.
“Weapons system deactivated.”
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The service pod was coming alongside. That was some pretty skilful piloting! I
rushed back into the passenger cabin with Lyra on my tail.
‘Listen up people, there’s a service pod docking with us and we don’t know who
is on board. Take cover and those with guns, point them at the airlock, but don’t
shoot unless they do or unless I say so. Oh, … and make sure you use the minimum
power setting. I don’t want a hole in the airlock.’
There were murmurs of assent and people did move out of the killing zone
around the emergency airlock on the side of the shuttle. I turned the lights in the
shuttle down to a minimal level. It was just enough to avoid bumping into things. I
didn’t want any more casualties on our side. The airlock would be at full light
level; they would be visible to us, but we would not be visible to them. I liked to
have an edge. By the size of the escape pod, I guessed that it could only carry four,
but three storm troupers and a Founder could make quite a mess in here.
I left somebody by the light control. I didn’t know who he was, but then I didn’t
know many people on the shuttle anyway. ‘When I shout “lights” turn them on,
ok.’
He nodded assent, and I left him so that I could get to a better position, and a
blast rifle of course. When the inner airlock door opened we were ready. Fingers
on triggers, poised for action. It was the red-head carrying the old man! I can tell
you there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. We all ran to them and hugged them. I
never yelled for the lights to be turned on, but the guy must have just used his own
initiative and turned them on anyway.
The old man was embarrassed to be carried by the red-head, but he was light and
she was strong, despite her shoulder wound. She carried him easily over to the med
tech. The old man was grumbling.
“It’s only a small wound in the ankle. Mothering me like this. I … . .. .. …. .. ”
His mumbling continued, but at a semi-audible level to those of us more than a
few feet away. Of course we were all laughing our heads off at his grumbling so
we wouldn’t have heard what he was saying, even if he had been speaking at a
normal volume. Somehow the fact that they had made it, made the whole thing ok.
The ones we had killed were not relevant anymore. Two were saved and that called
for rejoicing!
When the cheering and the hugging had died down the old man called me over.
“Who’s flying the shuttle?”
I sort of looked confused. ‘Well we aren’t flying. We are just still. I turned the
engines off.’
The old man exploded, but internally, so as not to panic the passengers. He
shouted at me in a hushed fashion and the others did not catch on.
“STILL! We were travelling at over twelve-hundred stelons when I docked with
you. We certainly haven’t stopped. Help me to the controls.”
He had me worried now. I had no idea how fast a stelon was, but
twelve-hundred of them must be a large amount the way he said it. I helped him up
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and with his arm around my shoulder we hobbled to the cockpit. The others wanted
to come in too but a look from the old man and they backed off and gave us the
space we needed.
He sat easily in the pilot’s chair and I took the co-pilot’s seat. He was quite
clearly very much at home in the shuttle. “I spent my first ten years in the City
flying one of these. I used to be a pilot on my Homeworld and these are a lot better
than the crates I used to fly.”
“Computer: Identify pilot 107-137-224.”
Nothing happened and the old man looked at me, frowned, then grumbled
something unintelligible before punching a button on the control panel.
‘Voice-command computer control re-activated.’
“Computer: Identify pilot 107-137-224.”
‘Welcome pilot 107-137-224. Identity confirmed. It has been over fifteen years
since your last flight. Are you well?’
“Yes, I’m fine, thank you.”
What the hell was this? The computer was a lot friendlier to him than to me.
“Computer: What is the status of the shuttle?”
‘Fuel: 73%. Air: 99%. External antenna feeds inoperable. Port top stabiliser
inoperable. Starboard top stabiliser status uncertain. Port top fuel tank ruptured.
Navigation systems damaged.’
The old man looked shocked. He looked at me accusatively.
“What have you done?”
I didn’t know what to say. ‘I had an accident in the shuttle bay and scraped the
top of the shuttle on the exit.’
He looked away, nodding his head in a negative fashion, as if scolding a small
child. “You did a bit more than scrape it, son. You’ve ripped off the
communications and navigation arrays and split one of the four fuel tanks. Hah.
Not exactly a text-book take off!”
I was just shrinking into my seat. I felt lower than low. I’d ruined everything.
We were all going to die and it was my fault. We would all suffocate in space and
there was nothing I could do about it. I was in the process of trying to spit out the
word ‘sorry’, but it wouldn’t come out: I was too choked up. The old man looked
back at me more sympathetically.
“Cheer up son. We are still going to make it. I’m used to flying by the seat of my
pants. It’s been a while, but the old dog has still got a few tricks up his sleeve.
Computer: The navigation array is off-line, but the navigational data base is intact
isn’t it.”
‘Yes.’
“Good. Then based on the last known position of the City before we left and
overlaying the star charts of this system and integrating the inertial navigation data,
use the head-up overlay to draw the calculated position of that last planet we
visited.”
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‘Calculated, but the shuttle needs to be turned thirty seven degrees of pitch and
seventy seven degrees of yaw.’
“Fair enough. Do that very gently and dim the cockpit lights. Activate pilot
reference tracking.”
The star-field pattern changed very slowly. We were turning, but there was no
physical sensation of turning. The only evidence of motion was the star pattern
changing. The cockpit lights dimmed and a small cross appeared on the screen. It
did not line up with any of the visible pin pricks of light though. The old man was
not perturbed.
“Good work, computer. Now, recalculate the position based on the cross-hairs as
you move them to the right.”
The cross-hairs shot across the screen at a tremendous rate.
“Computer: Stop the cross-hairs and reset to the original co-ordinates.”
After the briefest of pauses the cross-hairs re-appeared.
“Good now recalculate and move the cross-hairs at one hundredth the speed that
you moved them last time. Good. Keep going … keep going … STOP. Good now
move them down at half that speed … good … keep going … STOP.”
“Ok. Now based on that new position and all the inertial navigational data,
estimate by dead-reckoning a minimal-fuel smooth acceleration course to get us to
that planet in not more than three or four weeks.”
‘Done.’
“Very good. Engage.”
‘Engaged.’
“Time to planet fall?”
‘Estimated time to planet fall, twenty two days.’
“Computer: Are the meteorite sensors operational?”
‘Yes.’
“Good. Continuous scan of life support system integrity. Continuous scan for
meteorites. Automatic avoidance of meteorites. Sound the alarm for any problems
you can’t handle.”
‘Acknowledged.’
“Computer: Voice commands off.”
‘Voice command computer control inactivated.’
The old man looked at me.
“There we are. All done. I bet you have lots of questions. Fire away.”
You bet I did. He lost me ages ago. ‘The main thing that worries me is the cross-
-hairs thing. You lined them up with nothing that I could see.’
He smiled.
“Ah yes. The display was set for me. The cockpit sensors worked out the
cross-hairs according to my position when I activated pilot reference tracking.
That’s why it wasn’t right from where you were looking. I needed to do that to get
the accuracy required. That planet is a long way away and it’s going to take all our
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fuel to get there. These shuttles are intended for short hops down to a planet from
orbit, not for trips like this. Anything else?”
I thought about it for a moment.
‘Well, there was one other thing that puzzled me. When I took off from the
shuttle bay, I felt as if I were being sucked back into my seat, but since then I
haven’t really noticed any pushing or pulling. What is that all about?’
The old man stroked his chin.
“That is a very good question, but it’s a tough one to answer.”
He picked a small unrecognisable object from his pocket and dropped it. “It fell
to the floor. Why?”
I looked for some hidden answer to this obvious question, but found none. ‘Well,
things fall down don’t they?’
He smiled. “Yes, things fall down. But who or what decides which way is down?
On a planet you know that ‘down’ is whichever way the centre of the planet is. In
space it gets a little more difficult. Down is whichever way the gravity field vector
happens to be pointing. If you remember you trip out onto the outer hull on repair
duty, you’ll remember the impossible stairway.”
Oh yes, I remembered that well enough. He hadn’t stopped talking. I had to fit
my thoughts in between his words somehow.
“The back face of the ship is at right angles to the living deck of the ship and yet
both seemed down to you didn’t they?”
I nodded affirmatively. It was not something I cared to think about too heavily.
It just confused me. I preferred to neglect that sort of problem.
“The gravity field generators there are arranged to gradually rotate the field
vector as you walk along the stairway. ‘Down’ moves as you move along the
ladder. I could set it up in here so that down was at a funny angle to the floor.
Then, when I dropped the module, it would fall at an angle to the floor, rather than
as you would expect. I would have changed the direction of ‘down’. When you
moved off quickly, the direction of ‘down’ was changed. The computer would
ordinarily adjust the field output to make ‘down’ stay into the floor, but if you
move off too quickly then the compensation can’t keep up and you feel ‘down’
moving about.”
I had to think about this. ‘So I was falling back into the chair then.’
He nodded and smiled. “Yes, that’s right.”
I smiled too. I was not sure that I fully had it, but I didn’t want him to explain
anymore. I would think about it some more later and if I really wanted to know
then I would ask again. I was a farmer. I wanted to be on a planet where ‘down’
damn well stayed put!
There was just one more question though. ‘You gave us all fake collars. What
about yours?’
He smiled as a father would to a young child. “I knew how to get your collars
off because I work with them all the time. This one is special, put on by Founder
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Ruddoc himself and only he could remove it. Unfortunately, or fortunately,
depending on how you look at it, somebody removed him so the collar will have to
stay.”
I must have winced a bit at this, but he hadn’t meant to make me feel guilty, so
he continued. “You don’t have to worry about my collar. It’s been around my neck
for more years than I care to think about. It doesn’t cause me any problems and
there is nobody around to activate it now; it’s safer to just leave it alone. We can
look on it as a reminder.”
There was nothing else for us to do in the control room so we both got up to
leave. As we opened the door the red-head was there to greet us.
She looked at the old man first. “Is everything alright?”
He smiled back. “Everything is fine. Joran did a splendid job.”
I was embarrassed by this, because clearly I had come very close to killing all of
us. The red-head smiled at me now. “Good work Joran. Now that we are safe,
there’s something I am dying to know. I am amazed by your recovery after the
incident with the Teacher. I have seen a Teacher failing during a session and the
person was out cold for a whole day. Perhaps you can explain to me how you
managed to recover so quickly.”
I looked at her and somehow she seemed to be drifting off to the left and getting
blurry. Safe. That was the trigger. Everyone was safe now. I was safe now. Yes,
safe; I could rest now…
Apparently I just passed out into the red-head’s arms and was unconscious for two
days. That was the payback. That was the price of using this technique from the
Old Knowledge: it seemed like a fair exchange.
Things now seemed to have settled down into a routine. I had missed all the
upheaval, but that was no great loss. The shuttle was not designed for living in at
all; especially not for this many people for as long as several weeks. But this was a
tough set of passengers. Each had survived personal hardship and ordeals that
would have broken weaker souls. They just managed as best they could and I never
heard any grumbling. We were all in this together. Only the most able and the most
trustworthy had been chosen; it was not just pot-luck.
There wasn’t really anything to do now. After I had passed-out, the old man had
released the City escape pod from the side of the shuttle and it had been allowed to
drift off into space. I was sorry I had missed this. I had missed lots of other stuff as
well so I did have something to do after all. I could go around and talk to everyone
and find out what had happened to them on that last day in the City. And what had
happened in the couple of days that I had been unconscious. No doubt they would
be happy to talk about it, since there was nothing much else to do around here.
Everyone was just a passenger now, including me. I looked around the place and
there had been some changes. There was virtually no privacy on the shuttle so the
illusion of privacy had to be created. Blankets had been hung from the ceiling up
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one corner and one of the inflatable mattresses had been placed behind the screen.
This was evidently for couples to have a bit of privacy. The other bit of privacy
was that everyone just ignored the noises that came from behind the blanket
screen. This wasn’t a deliberate policy; it was more by tacit agreement.
Filicia was on her feet and seemed better than ever in terms of her speech and
movements, although it was clear that the wound in her shoulder was still giving
her some pain. She was just explaining the blanket screen to me when there was
some considerable noise coming from behind the screen. A couple were really
going for it in a big way. Filicia just looked at me and explained that this was just
something that we were going to have to put up with.
It was going to be difficult. The sound of the couple making love made me want
to have a go as well. I dare say that it affected some of the others in the same way
because when the noisy couple came out, another couple went in almost straight
away. They were somewhat more restrained, well in terms of noise anyway.
As we walked around the shuttle, I could see where some of the seats had been
taken out, enabling people to stretch out on the floor. The unwanted seats had been
stacked up against the wall. This was going to be a long trip with nothing to do.
That was it, the tour was over, and Filicia took me back to a padded blanket by the
wall. There were piles of supplies in heaps around the wall and these separated out
little sleeping areas, again in an attempt to give the appearance of some privacy.
Lyra was on the blanket and we joined her.
Filicia was now able to talk for herself and she started off the proceedings.
“You may not have noticed, but we lost quite a few when we left.”
I had noticed there were some faces missing, but I never thought to do a head
count. ‘I suppose it’s inevitable that we would lose a couple.’
She looked sad. “We lost more than a couple Joran. We lost six; five men and
one woman. We were equally balanced out and now we are short of men. I had
even picked out a nice man for Lyra, but he was one of the first to get killed.”
Lyra jerked forward at this announcement. “What?”
Lyra continued in a less startled, but more interested tone. “Who did you pick
out for me?”
Filicia went a bit shy at this point. “Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?”
Lyra frowned a bit. “I think I’d like to know though, just the same.”
Filicia nodded understanding and continued in a more gentle tone. “I picked
Joran’s Technician for you.”
Lyra looked a bit sad and so I took up the slack in the conversation.
‘What happened to him?’
Filicia let out a sigh before answering. “It was my fault. I sent two of the men to
take out the guards by the doorway. There was so much noise going on that it was
easy for them to sneak up behind the guards. I sent them armed with knives only.
It’s one thing to kill somebody with a gun and quite another to do it with a knife.
The Technician could easily have used the knife on the guard, but he hesitated for
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just a moment and the guard was alerted by his companion going down. The guard
turned and took out both of our men. I should never have sent them like that.”
I grabbed hold of Filicia and gave her a hug. When she had calmed down a bit
she unburied her face from my chest. Lyra wasn’t visibly upset.
“He was a good man. You know, I thought he was looking at me as if he was
interested. Now I know why.”
Filicia came back under her own control and shrugged off my arms.
“No, you misunderstand. I picked him for you in my own mind. I never told him.
But I did see the way he looked at you and I figured you would get along together.
I’m sorry I got him killed.”
This time Lyra grabbed hold of Filicia and soothed her. They held each other for
some while before they released each other by mutual consent. Filicia was still in
charge. “Given the shortage of men, it looks like Joran is going to have to continue
to pull double duty.”
She said this whilst looking at Lyra, and Lyra nodded in response. She
continued, alternately looking at me and Lyra as appropriate. “He belongs to both
of us now and we have to look after him. Since I am feeling better now, is it ok if I
take him behind the blanket first?”
Lyra just smiled and nodded and Filicia stood up, still holding onto my hand.
“Come on you. I want you to see how much better I am feeling now.”
She pulled gently on my arm and took me behind the blanket. I was very
uncomfortable with this. It was like making love in front of an audience. She
stripped off her clothes very efficiently and there was an enormous bandage on her
shoulder. Even the area around the bandage was bruised.
She stripped my uniform off of me in record time and left me standing naked in
front of her. “On the bed soldier. I needed you yesterday and you were
unconscious; you are going to have to make up for it today.”
She pushed me onto the bed and sat astride me. I was still thinking about the
people outside and she noticed this.
“Don’t worry about those people outside, Joran. Put your attention on me.”
She grabbed my hands and placed them on her breasts. She responded as I
gently moved my hand across her left breast. Hey, she was better. She never had
feeling in them after the adjustment. Manipulating her breasts was giving her
pleasure. I had not noticed my manhood rising to the occasion but she had. With a
guiding hand and a movement of her hips she was on me. Now she was really
letting herself go. She was not normally as loud as this, but then she had been shut
off from her emotions and feelings for some time.
Soon I had to abandon her breasts, as she pinned me to the mattress and started
pumping with all her body weight. She had long since achieved satisfaction herself
when I delivered the goods, and she achieved satisfaction again. Good for her. I
would have been content to just lie there, but she immediately got off and started
getting dressed.
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“There will be others wanting to use this place.”
This was said in a very matter of fact way and I could see her point. After that
much noise, I could see the whole shuttle population wanting to use this place! We
came out from behind the blanket still pulling clothes into position and sure
enough there was another couple waiting to use the area. She took me back to the
sleeping area and directed me to lay down. “You’d better have a rest. We need you
to save your strength. You are going to need it!”
I certainly could use a nap and there wasn’t anything else going on, so why not?
When I awoke they were whispering quietly and conspiratorially to each other.
They certainly had grown very fond of each other in the short time they had been
together. I was still on my back when Lyra shuffled over and kissed me full on the
lips for an extended period. “Welcome back, lover. Are you ready for me?”
With this she ran her hand slowly down my chest and experimentally between
my legs. “Yes, you’ll do.”
She got to her feet and offered me her hand. Taking the offered hand, I was soon
on my feet and heading for the blanketed place. This was very different to the last
time. This time was not furtive or secret. Everyone knew and Filicia had
sanctioned it. She was slow and gentle at first. We caressed and undressed each
other, savouring every moment. Our bodies intertwined and we made love as
equals, neither one dominating the other. We both kept our audible expression of
pleasure pretty much to ourselves, but that does not mean that the passion was any
the less because of it. When we were done, I knew that I had made love to a
woman.
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19 Love Boat
It went this way day after day, week after week. It seemed that our life was just a
continuum of getting in and out of bed. There was nothing else to do within the
confines of the ship and yet it really didn’t last that long.
We all got better at making love for longer periods of time. It got to the point
where there was no longer time available in a day for everyone to get a time slot in
the private area. Instead couples started doing it under blankets where they
normally slept. It was hard to hang on to inhibitions when everyone was doing it
all around you!
Even dragging sex out for as long as possible didn’t fill the day. How could it be
expected to? We would all be absolutely exhausted. I was certainly absolutely
exhausted, but it didn’t matter because there was nothing I needed to do that would
require any energy. I could lie down exhausted and just rest. That was not a
problem.
Food was a problem though. Water was ok because this shuttle, like the City,
recycled water. We had brought plenty with us, but we had used hardly any. That
was good because we never knew what we might find on the planet. Food was
another story. We thought we had brought plenty, but sitting around with nothing
to do had allowed us to eat at random times and often. The food stocks were
running low.
The previous hierarchy somehow still functioned and the red-head was relaying
instructions from the old man. They kept themselves pretty much to themselves, as
they made the cockpit their own. We seldom saw the old man over the course of
the trip; in fact I didn’t remember seeing him come out of the cockpit at all. I
thought perhaps he had been running on a different schedule than the rest of us,
that he came out when I was asleep.
The old man had shut down the Vid screens in the backs of the seats to save
power. For the first time in weeks they burst into life. There were not actually
many seats left, as most had been cleared away to make more room for
‘socialising’. Now we all gathered around the few remaining seats to see our new
home. I thought it looked inviting, but this was just some romantic notion having
no evidence to back it up.
The red-head came out of the cockpit and made directly for me.
“We are going to need your help soon. Perhaps you had better come forward.”
I moved to follow her, then Lyra and Filicia started moving in that direction as
well. The red-head put up her hand in a stopping fashion to them. “It’s a bit
crowded in there already. It would be best if you stayed here.”
Although worded as a comment, it was really more like an order. Lyra wasn’t
bothered by that, but it seemed that Filicia knew better. “Lyra, we’d better stay
here. We don’t want to get in the way do we?”
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I followed the red-head into the cockpit and the old man was lying on a thin
mattress on the floor. I knelt beside him and the red-head knelt down beside me.
“He had an attack a few days after we left the ship. I didn’t say anything because
I thought it was best not to alarm everyone. I thought he would have got better by
now, but there has been very little change. The med tech has had a look at him and
says that there is nothing more he can do for him.
One side of his body seems to be working and the other side is numb. He can
talk a little, but it’s difficult. He can’t fly the shuttle like this, but he should be able
to help you to fly it.”
Oh great. Two half-working pilots didn’t make a whole. Only half of his body
worked and my Teacher training was only half complete, if that. If he couldn’t
speak properly then how would he be able to activate the computer?
He mumbled something indistinct. I didn’t get it. The red-head moved closer,
practically sticking her ear over his mouth. She nodded her head.
“We need to make a course correction so that we can get into orbit. You are
going to do what the old man tells you to do through me, ok?”
I nodded and she continued. “Give me a hand to get him into the co-pilot’s seat.”
We both struggled to lift him into position. If he had been unconscious it would
have been easier. There was just something awkward about moving him. When he
was secure, I strapped myself into the pilot’s chair. Now there started a very long
drawn out affair. The old man whispered something into the red-head’s ear. She
relayed it verbatim to me and I said it loudly to the computer where appropriate.
The first step was to turn the computer voice command channel back on. It was
turned off by voice command, but obviously couldn’t be turned on the same way.
There was a control on the console which I activated; the same one that I had used
to turn it off when I first came on board in fact.
“Voice-command computer control re-activated.”
Now I followed the red-head’s relay of commands.
‘Computer: Execute emergency pilot voice recognition override, authorisation
145-235-067.’
“Emergency pilot voice recognition training mode active. State your name.”
‘My name is Joran.’
“Please confirm that your name is ‘My name is Joran’.”
‘No, that is not correct.’
“State your name.”
‘Joran.’
“Please confirm that your name is ‘Joran’.”
‘Yes.’
“Please state your identification sequence.”
I looked at the red-head and after consultation with the old man she just
shrugged her shoulders. Great!
‘123.’
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“That is not a valid sequence. All identification sequences must have nine digits.
Please state your identification sequence.”
‘123-456-789.’
“Please confirm that the identification sequence ‘123-456-789’ is correct.”
‘Yes.’
“Thank you Joran. Please remember your identification sequence so that I know
it is you in the future. How can I help you?”
That was definitely a better attitude. ‘Computer: Can you scan the planet in
front of us?’
“No, pilot 123-456-789. The navigational array is broken. Long range sensors
are off-line.”
‘Call me Joran.’
“Acknowledged, Joran.”
‘Select pilot tracking mode.’
“Pilot tracking mode enabled.”
‘Dim cockpit lights and activate head-up overlay mode with a circular cursor.’
“Ok.”
A circle appeared in the middle of the screen.
‘Magnify cursor by two.’
“Ok.”
‘Acknowledgements Off.’
“Acknowledgements turned off.”
‘Magnify cursor by one point two’.
‘Magnify cursor by one point one’.
‘Pan cursor left slowly. Slow it down more. Stop.’
‘Pan cursor up slowly. Stop.’
‘The cursor now fits exactly around the outline of the planet. Based on
astrophysical data from the visit to this planet, can you get a positional fix and a
thrust vector.’
“Negative. I can determine position, but not velocity. We need to take another
reading.”
‘Ok, take another reading then.’
“The reading has to be done at a different time so that will have moved to a new
location.”
‘How long do we need to wait?’
“That is not possible to predict. If I knew how fast we were going, then I would
know when we should take another reading.”
The computer was sounding very sarcastic all of a sudden.
‘How much does the circle have to move away from the current position to
calculate an accurate vector.’
“If the circle moves noticeably across the face of the planet, then we need to take
another reading immediately. Otherwise an hour or so will give a rough vector and
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subsequent readings will reduce the uncertainty. Multiple readings are
recommended.”
There wasn’t much else to do so I just sat watching the display. It hardly seemed
to move, but the outline did seem to be getting larger than the circle quite quickly.
‘Computer. The circle is now about 10% smaller than the planet. Is that ok?’
“No Joran. At this speed we will crash into the planet in a few hours. Immediate
thrust calculation recommended.”
‘Ok. Magnify cursor by one point zero five.
‘Magnify by one point zero five again.’
‘Magnify by one point zero one. Pan left slowly …stop.’
‘Pan down slowly …stop. Ok. Recalculate.’
“Position and velocity calculated.”
‘Acknowledgements on. Gently apply thrust to attain orbit.’
“Acknowledgements on. Thrust applied. Warning. There is insufficient fuel to
attain orbit. We will run out of fuel and crash, or bounce off the atmosphere.”
‘Recommendation.’
“We need to apply the maximum reverse thrust of 11g for nine minutes, almost
immediately.”
Shit, we weren’t ready for this. I activated the speaker system.
‘Pilot to passengers. We are going to apply full reverse thrust in about one
minute. You are definitely going to feel this and anything that isn’t tied down is
going to be thrown to the rear of the ship. Don’t have any boxes in front you.
Hurry, you have less than one minute.’
I turned to look at the red-head. She was still standing hunched over the
co-pilot’s chair.
‘He will be fine in that chair. You had better get on the floor by the wall or you
will get hurt.’
She reluctantly moved away from the old man and took the few steps necessary
to get her next to the wall. I looked away as she was settling herself to the floor.
‘Computer: Turn the shuttle one hundred and eighty degrees and prepare for
the 11g thrust thirty seconds later. Set the thrust on an automatic timer and give a
countdown thirty seconds before the thrust is applied. Broadcast this throughout
the ship. Increase the deceleration in 1g steps at ten second intervals.’
“Turning one hundred and eighty degrees. Setting automatic countdown for
maximum braking thrust.”
The planet was no longer centred in the front screen. We were rotating slowly,
although there was no noticeable sensation that we were doing so.
“Rotation complete. Ready for braking thrust. Attention, braking thrust in
…thirty, …twenty, …ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one,
thrust on.”
Nothing happened when the computer said “thrust on”. Then I realised that the
first thrust level of 1g would be completely compensated; it would not be felt.
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“2g.”
I felt that.
“3g.”
“4g.”
“5g.”
Breathing was getting noticeably more difficult.
“6g.”
I heard a scream from the passenger cabin and the sound of packages breaking
apart.
“7g.”
More cries from the passenger cabin and the old man went into spasms. It was
with some difficulty that I spoke to the computer.
‘Computer, stop increasing the braking thrust.’
“Braking thrust stabilised at 7g.”
I held the thrust on for what seemed like hours but which in reality was only 5
minutes.
‘Computer, decrease thrust in 1g steps.’
“Decreasing thrust, 6g, 5g, 4g, 3g, 2g,1g, thrust off.”
Phew! That had been hard on me. I could only imagine what it had done to the
old man. The red-head was by his side immediately.
‘How is he?’
“He seems stable now, but he is unconscious.”
The computer now had its say.
“There is a problem, Joran. The stress of that maximum thrust period has
broken the rotational inertial navigation sensors. It is no longer possible to do
automatic rotations.”
Great! That was all I needed. I looked at the red-head and she shrugged her
shoulders. The old man wasn’t available for consultation. He had not come around
yet after the high g-force deceleration. The trouble was that we had not applied the
braking thrust for very long.
‘Computer. Apply 1g braking thrust.’
“1g braking thrust active. Warning, this will use up too much fuel. We need to
apply more than 1g braking thrust.”
‘How much can be compensated for?’
“1g is the limit.”
‘How much do we need?’
“At least 1.2g.”
‘But what happens, since it can’t be compensated for?’
“The floor will seem to be tilting.”
‘Ok, do that then.’
“Please reword the command.”
‘Apply 1.2g braking thrust.’
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“1.2g braking thrust applied. Required duration is estimated to be 1 hour.”
Whoa! The floor dipped to an unpleasant angle as if the front of the shuttle had
been tipped upwards. This was very unsettling at first. Fortunately it was not
rocking backwards and forwards, it was just tilted. It was just something else to get
used to.
‘Ok, now is there anything else we can do to reduce the fuel consumption and
yet still make orbit with enough fuel to land.’
“Rotate the shuttle one hundred and eighty degrees and the fuel consumption
will be reduced.”
‘What! We just rotated the shuttle one hundred and eighty degrees and now you
want us to turn it back. Were we wrong to rotate it?’
“No. In order to have achieved high levels of braking thrust, it was necessary to
rotate the shuttle. For low thrusts, up to 2g, it is possible to keep the shuttle
heading forwards. When we are heading forwards, we can use the gravitational
flux disperser to gain an extra 0.2g deceleration without expending fuel.”
I was getting confused rapidly. Just as I thought I understood something, an
extra something appeared from nowhere to irritate me.
‘Please explain what a gravitational flux disperser is and does.’
“The drive system is confidential. No data is held on file concerning its
construction or design. Any attempt to gain access to the actual drive units will
trigger a security alert and if the authorisation code is not immediately entered, the
shuttle will self-destruct.”
‘Ok, well don’t tell me the confidential stuff, but tell me what it means to me as a
pilot.’
“The shuttle can generate a decelerating thrust of 0.2g when near planetary
bodies. This thrust consumes a negligible amount of fuel and we need to use it to
save enough fuel for landing. According to the last set of readings that we took, we
are travelling about three times faster than we should be to enter the null fuel glide
path for the planet. The sooner we get onto the glide path, the less fuel we will
use.”
‘Thank you. I get it now. Ok, then turn us around and let’s save some more fuel.’
“I’m sorry Joran. I can’t turn the shuttle. The rotational inertial navigation
sensors are broken. They were damaged by the high deceleration thrust.”
‘Oh yeah, I remember you telling me that earlier. So, what do I have to do?’
“Turn off the braking thrust. Rotate the shuttle, then apply the braking thrust
again.”
‘Oh well, we had better get started then. Turn off the braking thrust.’
“Braking thrust disengaged.”
The floor stopped tilting. This was a considerable relief.
‘Hey, wait a moment. You can do pilot reference tracking. Can you also follow
where I am pointing to with an out-stretched arm?’
“Yes.”
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‘How about this then? You turn the shuttle by doing the opposite of what you did
to turn us around in the first place. Then I’ll point at the planet and you can use
my pointing to correct our position.’
“That would not be very accurate, but it would be better than having no
correction at all.”
‘Ok. Do it.’
“Rotating shuttle one hundred and eighty degrees.”
The planet came slowly into view and from my seated position, I pointed at the
planet. The planet drifted slowly across the Armaplex screen until it was in the
centre. I held my arm pointing at the planet for what seemed like ages. It looked
stationary.
“Rotation stabilised. There is no need to continue pointing.”
‘Alright. Now put the reverse thrust up to 0.8g and use that flux dispersal thing
to get us another 0.2g for free.’
“Total reverse thrust of 1g applied as required. Recommend taking two new sets
of readings.”
The circle was actually quite well aligned with the planet already.
‘Ok. Don’t acknowledge size or position changes of the cursor.’
“Ok.”
‘Magnify cursor by one point zero two. Magnify by one point zero one.’
‘Pan left slowly, …stop. Pan down slowly, …stop.’
‘Recalculate.’
“Recalculated.”
‘How are we doing?’
“First reading is within acceptable tolerances. I can’t say completely without the
second reading. However, we do still need to get the thrust back up to 1.2g as soon
as possible. We should also take another reading in about thirty minutes or so.”
‘Ok. Let me know when that time has elapsed. Turn off pilot reference tracking.
Turn off head-up overlay mode and turn up the cockpit lights.’
“Timer set for thirty minutes. Pilot reference tracking off. Head-up overlay off.
Cockpit lights on.”
It was amazing how tiring that maximum thrust force was. I needed a break and
I needed to see how the passengers were doing. ‘I am going to take a look back
there and see how we are doing.’
The red-head just nodded as I climbed out of the pilot’s seat and headed out. As
I opened the cockpit door, I was greeted by an almost comical scene. There were
boxes spread about all over the place and half-naked men and women trying to
shuffle around with blankets partially covering them. I had interrupted the
festivities in several cases by the looks of things. I spotted a few bruises and the
odd facial cut, but nobody seemed to be seriously injured.
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I made for the shuttle’s onboard water dispenser and took a drink. That hit the
spot! There was a pile of work to do to clean up the shuttle, but it would have to
wait a while. I needed to get the thrust back up to 1.2g as soon as possible.
‘Ok, listen-up people. We are coming up on the planet very soon. We should be
in orbit by the end of today. In fact we might even be landing today.’
I hadn’t finished talking, but the gradual murmurings had turned into cheering.
Everybody was grabbing everybody else and hugging them. Oh, what the hell. I
wasn’t about to be left out. Lyra and Filicia came over to be hugged and they
weren’t disappointed. It took a while for everybody to have quietened down so that
I could continue.
‘I have to tilt the floor again very soon so be prepared. Get dressed and when
you are ready, get these seats bolted back into position. The landing could be a bit
rough. Once the seats are back in position, we can put the supplies on the seats
and strap them in place. That will stop us having a repeat performance.’
I said this last whilst pointing at the wreckage around the room. Some bags had
split open and a small amount of food had been lost; we didn’t have any to spare.
As it turned out, the food bags that split contained dry biscuits and the like and we
salvaged the contents. We were not above eating slightly damaged goods.
Everything looked as well as could be expected. There were no major problems,
so I returned to the cockpit and strapped myself in. ‘Pilot to passengers. It will
seem as if the floor is tilting, but this is to be expected. Please don’t be alarmed,
but do continue with your work. The floor is going to appear tilted for about an
hour.’
‘Computer, increase total braking thrust to 1.2g smoothly.’
“Increasing braking thrust beyond compensation range to 1.2g.”
Sure enough the floor began to tilt. This was no illusion. The floor was actually
tipping down at the front of the ship. The angle was not too bad though. I shut
down the computer control and walked uphill to the passenger cabin to see how
they were coping. Not as bad as before, but stuff was now sliding to the front of the
ship as I watched. My mistake: I had forgotten to mention that the tilt would be in
the opposite direction this time.
I turned my attentions to getting some of the seats back in position and lost all
track of time. I would have carried on bolting the seats back in position, but the
red-head came out to get me; it was time. I strapped myself back in position as
before, dimmed the lights and put the tracking mode back on. The planet was now
noticeably bigger than the cursor.
It didn’t take long to magnify and shift the cursor to fit the planet exactly.
‘There you go, all done. Re-calculate that.’
“Re-calculated. We will need to maintain the 1.2g braking thrust for another
seventeen minutes, then we can reduce it to 0.2g and stop using up the fuel.”
‘Fine. Turn off the braking thrust when it is time, but broadcast a warning to
everyone on board just before you do so.’
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“Ok.”
There was actually no point in shutting down the voice recognition circuitry as
the computer would only respond to my voice anyway. I just turned the cockpit
lights back up, turned off the tracking mode and left. The red-head was hanging on
to the co-pilot’s seat. There was nothing I could say to her. She was just concerned
about the old man. There was nothing I could do for him either.
I walked back uphill to the seating area and people were evidently fully adjusted
to the tilt and just carrying on. There was still plenty of work to do so I continued
to bolt the seats back into place. I was bolting in the last of the seats when the
computer announced that the reverse thrust was being removed and the floor
magically tilted back to its normal position. This was a welcome relief, as I no
longer had to brace myself against the other seats and my tools had no tendency to
roll off down the aisle.
I then noticed a succession of men and women approaching Lyra and Filicia.
They were inseparable nowadays and there was definitely something fishy going
on. The people approached nervously and went away giggly. I felt left out of …
something.
Lyra and Filicia came over as I had just completed the last of the seats. I put
down the tools and met them half way. Filicia started off the conversation. “We
were all wondering. Since you can adjust the gravity, can you turn it off
completely.?”
I wasn’t sure what she was going on about. ‘Well I could, yes, but we are
decelerating, trying to reach the planet at a reasonable speed. If we come in too
fast, we will either crash straight into the atmosphere and break up, or bounce off
and miss the planet entirely. If I were to turn the gravity off now, all that would
happen is that the front bulkhead there would be the floor. There wouldn’t be
enough space for all the food and people, and it would be a bit of a crush.’
Filicia looked a bit disappointed and I had another think. ‘Once we have reached
orbit, of course, things would be a lot different. If I turned the gravity off when we
were in orbit then we would be weightless.’
Now that old smile came back and I could see where she was headed. She
pointed to the passengers. “This wasn’t my idea, but some of the women and men
have heard that it’s fun to do it when you are weightless. They haven’t ever tried
and this might be their last chance.”
I wondered who could have talked about null-g sex other than Filicia and I
wondered just what it was that she had been saying! I looked around the passenger
cabin. The seats were all back in place and supplies were being moved into more
secure positions.
‘Well the screened-off area has been taken down and there isn’t going to be any
privacy.’
Lyra joined in. “You may not have noticed it, but over the past three weeks
people have got very good at not noticing others taking their pleasure in this way.
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Since nearly everyone is going to be involved, privacy is not going to be a
problem.”
That made sense. The normal rules of conduct didn’t apply to this group now.
We had been living in each others space for so long now that we were like a big
extended family.
‘Ok, you two arrange it with the others. It’s a pity I can’t join in really.’
Filicia was outraged. “What do you mean you can’t join in. Lyra hasn’t had a go
at it and it would be unfair to have her miss out.”
I was taken aback by the emotion. ‘There is no way I can get back to the cockpit
to turn the gravity back on afterwards. I’ll have to stay in the cockpit.’
Filicia wasn’t having any of this. “Let the old man do it.”
I pulled the pair of them over to the side where we would not be overheard and
continued in a whisper. ‘The old man has had some sort of attack; he is
temporarily out of action. I am flying the shuttle.’
It took several moments for this to sink in. They both took it very well, but then
again they didn’t know that I had not received all of the Teacher training for flying
the shuttle. It was probably best that they didn’t find that out either! There was no
point in increasing their concern.
Filicia introverted for a while then brightened up. “Why don’t you tell the
computer to do an automatic sequence. It can wait for a few minutes for you to get
back in here, then it can gradually shut down the gravity. It can wait twenty
minutes then bring it back on. That should be plenty of time for everyone to finish.
A lot more time than we ever had.”
She said that last phrase with a glint in her eye. Well, it was a little bit of a risk,
but nothing too terrible. ‘Ok, I’ll look into it and see what can be done; you get
yourselves organised. It will be several hours until we reach orbit so you have
plenty of time to sort things out. All those supplies are going to have to be tied
down properly or things could get untidy in here.’
Filicia looked at Lyra then back to me. “We can handle all that. You go and fly
the ship.” I nodded and let them get on with it. I wasn’t convinced that I wanted to
know the details of what they had in mind anyway. Returning to the cockpit, I
found the red-head and the old man where I left them. She had not put him back on
the floor because his seat was good for resisting the g-forces that we kept
experiencing.
Since the computer had not been shut off, I just sat in the pilot’s chair and
started off the interrogation.
‘Computer: Estimated time to planetary orbit.’
“About four hours.”
‘When we reach orbit, will we have enough fuel to land safely.’
“Probably not.”
It said this without any feeling. It was just a statement of fact. The red-head was
looking at me and I looked back at her. There was nothing more to be said about it.
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‘Computer, are you able to execute a sequence of commands concerned with
adjusting the internal gravity and lights?’
“Yes.”
The red-head looked at me and I automatically answered her unspoken question.
‘Filicia and the others want some zero-g time.’
The red-head just smiled at me knowingly and looked away. She was obviously
not going to be able to take part.
‘Computer, should we take another reading?’
“It wouldn’t do any harm.”
The computer seemed to be getting less and less formal. It seemed to be
adjusting to my style of speaking. It was almost friendly now, although it showed
no sign of concern over our predicament. I realigned the cursor with the planet and
let it take another reading.
“On course. Minor correction made.”
‘Ok, now recalculate the cursors so that they track where you think we are
relative to the planet. That way if we are off course I’ll know right away.’
“Continuous cursor recalculation active.”
Now I had something to do. I could watch the cursor and adjust it as we went, to
keep us accurately on course. These fine corrections meant that we would get
exactly where we needed to get with the minimum necessary fuel consumption. We
were no longer heading directly for the planet, but seemed to be heading for the
edge. This made sense because we wanted to go into orbit first.
If computers could get annoyed then I am sure that this one would have got
angry with me. I had nothing else to do so I kept fiddling with the cursor. Every ten
minutes or so I would change the position slightly, change the size slightly,
anything to relieve the boredom. The corrections were not that necessary. We were
heading in closer and closer. The errors at this distance were not that much of a
problem.
After another in a long series of minor corrections the computer spoke up for
itself.
“Thank you Joran. Further corrections will not be necessary. The planet is now
within range of the short range sensors and automatic corrections for orbit have
been made.”
‘I thought the navigation arrays on the top of the ship and been destroyed.’
“That is correct. The navigational arrays are on the top of the ship and are
needed for interstellar journeys. Once we get near to a planet then the short range
sensors are used. These are on the underside of the shuttle.”
‘Ok, then in that case turn off pilot reference tracking mode and head-up display
mode.’
“Pilot reference tracking off. Head-up display off.”
‘Let me know when we have reached orbit.’
“Ok.”
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It was a long wait until we reached orbit and there was nothing to do but watch
the planet getting larger as we approached. I didn’t know what a planet was
supposed to look like from this far away, but it seemed right somehow. I was
day-dreaming about what we would find in our new home when my thoughts were
interrupted by the computer.
“Joran, we have now achieved orbit.”
‘Good. Are the engines running?’
“No. They have not been running since we turned off the 1.2g reverse thrust. We
are now in a stable orbit. No fuel expenditure is necessary.”
I activated the loudspeaker system so that I could address the passengers.
‘Attention, this is the pilot speaking. We have now achieved orbit. Stand by.’
I turned my attention back to the shuttle computer.
‘Computer: I am going to give you a sequence of operations to perform and you
should start the sequence only after I tell you to. Do you understand?’
“Yes.”
‘From when I say “Start sequence” I want you to wait for two minutes, then
ramp the internal gravity down to zero gradually over a period of one minute. Dim
the lights in the passenger cabin as the gravity goes down, but don’t take them
lower than they are in here during head-up display mode. Keep it at zero gravity
for twenty minutes, then ramp the gravity and lights back up to normal. That is all
of the sequence. Do you understand it?’
“Yes.”
‘Good. Is there any danger involved in performing this sequence?’
“No significant danger is involved. Even if we are not exactly in orbit, nothing
much can happen in the twenty four minute period specified.”
‘Oh and one other thing. When you are about to start changing the gravity, give
a one minute warning beforehand.’
“Understood.”
‘Start sequence.’
“Sequence activated. Three minutes to zero gravity.”
I looked at the red-head as I headed for the door and she smiled at me.
“Enjoy yourself Joran.”
This was all entirely too open for my liking. I entered the passenger cabin and it
was very still. I had never heard it so quiet. My voice sounded loud to me as I
made the somewhat unnecessary announcement.
‘It’s about two minutes now.’
There were murmurings as I headed down the passageway. I noticed that the
unattached women were sitting discretely at the front so that they could ignore the
goings-on more readily. No that wasn’t quite true, there weren’t enough of them at
the front. I noticed couples and threesomes; Filicia was next to Lyra. All of the
seated couples seemed to be individually covered in sheets, except where there was
a third person. In this case, the third person was clothed and strapped into the seat.
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As I headed for Filicia and Lyra they motioned for me to sit between them and
started systematically removing my clothes whilst I was trying to talk.
“What’s going on?”
Filicia was able to talk and undress me at the same time. “We didn’t want to
unpack all the bags to get at the cord so we just used what was to hand. There
wasn’t enough to go around so I thought it would be more fun to have somebody
hold onto one leg from each person in a couple.”
I was obviously visibly shocked. “Joran, you’re not shy of me holding your leg
surely?”
I muttered under my breath. A little privacy every now and then would be nice! I
managed to get a sheet over me before the last item of my clothing was
unceremoniously removed. They were enjoying this; ganging up on me!
“One minute to gravity reduction.”
There was no further warning and the gravity gradually faded away. Not like on
the main ship where it went in stages. This was very smooth. The lights had faded
away gently as well so Lyra and I floated free of the seat, constrained only by
Filicia’s firm grip around our ankles. Our hands explored the body of our partner
and found warmth and comfort there. The sheets were forgotten and probably
drifted away somewhere.
We were in a fairly tight embrace to start with and it was necessary after the
preliminaries to separate slightly in order to join more fully. It was clear that Lyra
had been instructed by the Master and she positioned her hands expertly as Filicia
had taught me. No doubt Filicia had shared this with the others as well.
We moved in closer at the top until we were touching breast to chest. Smaller
faster movements were possible and it wasn’t long before we succumbed to the
moment. Although we hadn’t made too much audible fuss about it, Filicia could
feel when we were done and hauled us back down. We were probably the first to
finish; I had been pumping hard and going all out rather than taking my time. This
was the normal routine in zero-g because time was usually short We felt around for
the seat restraints and strapped ourselves in; still stark naked of course.
I must confess, that with nothing else to do I listened-in to the others making
love; whispering things to each other, moaning with anticipation, pushing and
thrusting into each other. It was not possible to be exposed to this without being
aroused. The light was dim and our eyes had not yet grown accustomed to it, but it
seemed to me that my manhood was visible.
Filicia whispered something to Lyra, who giggled and whispered back. Next
thing I knew, there was a female form slithering over me. There was no weight of
course; we were weightless. She was holding herself down with the straps. I felt a
hand grab my ankle as the female on me released the seat straps. I didn’t have to
see to know it was Filicia. This wasn’t just because of her shorter hair; there was
just something about her that I knew. Maybe her smell, maybe the texture of her
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skin, but whatever it was that was different, I easily recognised her in the dark. We
had been together so often that I just knew it was her.
There was plenty of time still to go so we were able to indulge ourselves. Being
held at the ankles was an excellent idea. It gave so much extra freedom and I
completely forgot that Lyra was down there holding on, silently encouraging us to
fulfil our union. Couples were coming all around us, with a wash of emotion that
fed our desire. Each climax of the others was added to our pleasure. We had
brought them to this place and their pleasure was our pleasure. Filicia was getting
louder and I joined in. What the hell, we might as well go for it; this would be our
last time like this. In fact, given that we had insufficient fuel to land, I thought this
might be our last time ever. This somehow gave me an extra spurt of life. I pumped
harder and faster and was gratified when Filicia came gloriously and I followed
moments after.
We stayed entwined there, floating high above the seats and I noticed that I
could see the others looking at us. Our eyes had become better acclimatised and
things seemed quite visible. The passengers stood, holding firmly onto the seat
straps somehow, and gave us a round of applause. We had been the last to finish
and we were up there alone. I was too embarrassed to know what to say. I just
shouted down in a whisper.
‘Lyra. Lyra!’
She hauled us down just as the one minute warning came. Wow! That was an
epic session.
The gravity started coming back up and so did the lights. There was then a burst of
frantic activity to grab hold of the sheets which had drifted off and the clothes that
had also drifted off. There was lots of furtive movement and giggling going on
over the one minute period, but by the time the lights had been fully restored
everybody had some sort of covering of the more critical or embarrassing areas.
I had a ship to fly so I didn’t hang around. I just grabbed a handful of clothes
and shuffled off up towards the cockpit. I managed to get the cockpit door safely
shut behind me and felt safer. Mind you, I had completely forgotten about the
red-head and she just grinned broadly when she saw me mostly naked, except for
the odd bit of cloth held strategically. Being an older woman she wasn’t inclined to
giggle, she just averted her gaze discretely so that I could get dressed with some
dignity.
I regained my pilot’s station and again she looked at me and smiled, but
restrained herself from any comment. That was definitely appreciated. I returned to
the business at hand to take my mind off of the embarrassment.
‘Computer: How are we doing for fuel?’
“The fuel is very low. There is insufficient to make an ordinary landing.”
‘So we can land in some other way?’
“Yes, a crash landing is possible.”
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‘How many might survive such a landing?’
“Probability of survival for one or more persons is too small to estimate.”
‘What do you suggest?’
“Summon assistance.”
I looked at the red-head and she looked at the old man but he said nothing. She
just shrugged.
‘Is there any information in the historical database about how people used to
solve the problem of reducing orbital velocity without using fuel.’
“Yes Joran. It used to be done by dissipating the orbital energy as heat. Such a
craft could then glide in from orbit and use no fuel at all.”
‘Sounds good to me. Let’s do that.’
“Unfortunately this shuttle design does not have wings and cannot glide.”
‘Ok, but can we dissipate orbital energy as heat.’
“The designs that dissipate the energy as heat, burn-off layers of material in the
process. This shuttle design does not have such ablative material. Computing with
the average specific heat capacity, the shuttle mass and the orbital energy shows
that the shuttle would be reduced to a molten mass before it got within reach of the
lower atmosphere.”
‘Look we still have some fuel. Could we burn off some energy as heat and then
land using the fuel.’
“No. There is not enough fuel to make up the difference, even if we allow the
hull to heat up to three thousand and thirty degrees. Above three thousand and
thirty degrees the hull would loose integrity. Additionally, this action would
destroy the short range sensor array on the underside of the hull and rupture the
fuel tanks.”
I just sat there looking at the planet. So close and yet too far to reach. I don’t
know how long I sat there staring at the planet, but it was not long in my terms. If
time is measured by the amount of actions or thoughts then virtually no time
passed. My mind was a blank. Fortunately the red-head was there and her mature
level-headed reasoning helped me out.
“You are tired Joran. We all are. It has been a long day. Why don’t we sleep on
it and see what comes to mind?”
A sound plan. I just nodded and gave her a hand to get the old man back on the
floor. I was about to leave the cockpit and realised that the passengers needed an
update.
Activating the speaker system I addressed them. ‘This is the pilot speaking. It
has taken longer to reach orbit than expected. It’s been a long day so we will be
staying in orbit tonight; turn in and get some rest. You are going to need all of
your strength tomorrow.’
This wasn’t a lie, but it was certainly a half-truth. I trudged back into the
passenger cabin in a dejected state. I found Lyra and Filicia where I had left them,
although they were now properly attired, with no evidence of the previous activity
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in view. I seated myself next to Filicia and made an effort to make myself
comfortable on the upright seat.
Filicia’s arm snaked around my shoulders and either by muscle tension or by
empathy she seemed to know there was something wrong. She pulled my head
down to her shoulder and whispered in my ear. “Is it that bad?”
I barely raised my voice above the inaudible and replied. ‘Yes.’
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20 Planet-Fall
Morning came and I found myself cradled in Filicia’s arms. She looked as if she
had been awake for some time; in fact, she might not even have gone to sleep.
There was not much by way of amenities on board. There was plenty of water
available for washing, since it was recycled, but there was no private facility to do
so. It tended to be just a bowl in the corner of the passenger cabin. At least there
was a private toilet, although it was not designed for frequent use and so was rather
small and cramped. Nevertheless, after using the toilet and splashing some water
on my face and hands I felt refreshed.
Some food would also have been nice, but we were running a bit low, so we
tended to only eat at midday now. Lyra grabbed me before I entered the cockpit.
“Filicia said you must eat breakfast today, as you have to land the shuttle.”
What was I going to say, ‘We are going to burn up on re-entry.’? I had breakfast
instead. It was the easier of the two options, although I felt like a fraud. I ate
mechanically without tasting or even noticing what I was eating. Soon the ordeal
was over. It had felt as if the eyes of the entire passenger complement were upon
me. Nobody else would be eating this morning. I ventured into the cockpit on my
own. By tacit agreement nobody else went in there now.
There was the red-head. By some trick or skill she always looked fresh and
vibrant. That is more than could be said for the old man. He was lying on the floor,
looking no different to how he had been on the previous day.
I nodded to the red-head and she nodded back. There was nothing that needed to
be said. I sat in the pilot’s chair looking for inspiration. None came. I had no more
idea of what to do today than I had had yesterday. Despite being well rested I
didn’t know what to do.
‘Computer: I want to get this vessel down on that planet without killing
everyone on board. How can I do that?’
“There are no standard solutions to that problem.”
‘Hey, wait a minute. You said there are no standard solutions to that problem.
Does that mean that there are non-standard solutions to the problem.’
“There may be non-standard solutions to the problem. I do not know of any
because in that case they would then become standard solutions.”
‘Ok, but if I come up with ideas you can tell me if they have any chance of
working?’
“Yes.”
‘Ok. If we dump all the seats and any other loose fittings that we can find, would
that help.’
“No. There is insufficient mass of material to have any significant effect.”
‘If we enter the atmosphere, and use the hull to slow us down until it gets too
hot, and then use the engines until the hull cools off, then let the hull heat up
again, would that work?’
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“That is a better solution. We would get closer to the planet before we burned
up.”
‘And if we combined the last two solutions?’
“No significant change.”
‘Is there any other energy source on-board the shuttle that we can use to help us
to decelerate?’
“None that I know about.”
‘Will the solar cells recharge us sufficiently to land?’
“The accumulators are discharging even now that we are in orbit. They are used
to recycle the air and the water and they have been used extensively. At the current
rate of consumption they will last for another few days, despite being recharged
from the solar cells. Evidently the solar panels are partially damaged.”
Great, that was all we needed! No food, no water, no air and no way down. No
time to make up some master strategy. ‘Ok. What if we were to bounce the shuttle
off the atmosphere a few times? Could we heat the hull up enough before we
bounced off to slow us down a bit and if we did it enough would we slow down
enough to land safely?’
“That is not a recommended procedure.”
‘I didn’t ask if it was a recommended procedure; I asked if it would work.’
“No. The fuel tanks would probably overheat and blow up before we lost
enough speed. Also, all the short-range sensors would be burned off so the landing
would have to be done manually. Also, the stabilisers would be burned off, so the
craft could not be landed safely.”
‘Hey, at the moment we are going to crash and burn. Just how unsafe is “not
safely”.’
“There is no statistical record available for an accurate assessment. Fatality is
70% certain.”
‘Pessimist! That gives us a 30% chance of success. So far, all other options give
us 0% chance of success. That’s true isn’t it?’
“Yes, but it is a 30% chance of one or more survivors, not a 30% chance that
everyone will make it.”
I had been so absorbed with the computer that I had not been paying any
attention to the old man. I heard a grunt and looked in his direction. Evidently the
red-head had not been paying any attention to him either and he was weakly
tugging at her with his not-so-bad arm. She knelt down close to his ear and he
mumbled something to her.
“He said something like do it upside down.”
I thought about it. ‘Yes, but what does that mean? Do what upside down? We
can’t fly the shuttle upside down, we will all be on the roof and I won’t be able to
control the shuttle.’
I moved over to kneel on the floor beside him. ‘What do you mean, upside
down? Do you have a plan?’
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He tugged on the red-head again and she obediently put her ear to his mouth.
“He said to tell the computer to re-calculate the descent with the shuttle upside
down.”
I didn’t get it. ‘Please ask him to explain that.’
She listened at his mouth, checked his pulse, then looked back up at me.
“He is out again. I don’t think he can be of any more help to you now, I’m
afraid.”
‘Computer: Re-calculate that last plan, but with the shuttle upside down.’
“60% chance of one or more survivors.”
‘What? Why?’
“By skipping the top surface of the hull on the atmosphere we destroy the
navigational array, which is already inoperative. The top stabilisers are also
inoperative so we lose nothing there. Also, the top fuel tank, the one that wasn’t
ruptured on take-off, has been empty for over a week and is clear of residue.”
‘Fair enough but how do I fly the shuttle when I am flapping about on the
ceiling?’
“You wouldn’t be on the ceiling?”
‘Why wouldn’t I be on the ceiling if we turn the shuttle upside down?’
“Down is towards the floor of the shuttle. If we invert the shuttle then ‘down’
will still be to the floor of the shuttle. Provided we do not decelerate too rapidly,
the internal gravity field generator will compensate for the deceleration and you
will not notice it at all.”
I felt like such an idiot. This is what the old man had been trying to explain to
me before and I had just rejected it as something I really didn’t want to know
about. It had nearly cost us all our lives.
‘But the compensators couldn’t handle 1.2g and if we invert the shuttle they
would have to put out at least 2g wouldn’t they?’
“Yes, but fields from top to bottom in the shuttle are easier to handle than from
front to back.”
‘Ok, well if you can do it without us noticing it, takes us down …’
“I can’t do that. There is still a problem.”
‘Well?’
“If the short-range sensors are pointed away from the planet then I cannot fly the
shuttle on automatic. There will be no reference point. Also, once we are well into
the atmosphere you will have to turn the shuttle the right way up and land it. The
top stabilisers are out and would be destroyed by this procedure anyway. I cannot
land the craft myself. You will have to fly it in on manual control.”
Oh great. Thanks a lot. Oh well there was no sense in holding on here. Things
weren’t going to get any better. This trainee pilot, with one unsuccessful take-off
as his only ‘accomplishment’, was now going to have to land a crippled shuttle
with inadequate fuel reserves.
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‘Pilot to passengers. We are going to start our landing procedure soon. This is
going to be rough; check that everything and everybody is strapped down
securely.’
I looked at the red-head on the floor with the old man. ‘You are going to have to
leave him and take your place with the others.’
She looked at me with cold eyes. ‘I’ve come this far with him and I am not going
to leave him now.’
I activated the speaker system. ‘Filicia and Lyra to the flight deck please.’
They soon appeared through the door, but were a bit taken aback to see the old
man on the floor; despite my having told them that he was out of action. Seeing
him lying on the floor really brought it home to them that he was out of action.
‘Look this is no time for secrets. The old man has been like this for a couple of
weeks and he isn’t likely to get better in the next few hours. Things are going to be
going too fast to relay messages across from him now, even if he were conscious.
He has brought us this far and given us a chance. It’s up to us to make it now.
Help her take him back and strap them both in.’
There was no argument this time. The red-head helped Lyra and Filicia carry the
old man back to the passenger cabin whilst I got the computer to go over the
controls with me and the procedure for landing. I had just finished this when
Filicia came back in and started strapping herself into the copilot’s chair. I looked
at her sternly. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’
She smiled back warmly, refusing to echo my irritation. “The red-head is
sticking with her man and I am doing the same. The passengers are all strapped in
and the cargo is tied down. It’s all up to you now.”
I could see that all argument was futile. ‘Ok computer, what do I have to do?’
“You must turn the shuttle upside down and pull the stick towards you very
slightly to nudge us into the atmosphere. We should stay in only for a few seconds
at first and gradually work up to over ten minutes. The length of stay will depend
on how hard you pull back on the stick. We need to bounce off the atmosphere
each time. We cannot afford to use fuel to lift off of the atmosphere. I have
re-programmed the control column so that turning it left and right only activates
the roll thrusters. … Good luck Joran.”
This computer was definitely changing its attitude. It actually seemed to care..
‘Pilot to passengers. Here we go.’
The last thing I did before starting the manoeuvre was to turn on the seat
monitors. I wouldn’t have time later and they had a right to know what was
happening. It was not an easy matter to turn the shuttle. I kept overcorrecting; we
spun first one way and then the other. Filicia spoke up.
‘Leave the controls for a moment Joran. Just relax. It won’t do it any harm to
rotate like this. Just treat the shuttle like a woman, be gentle with it.’
I don’t know what she knew about flying a shuttle, but she certainly knew about
women. I had used too much fuel already with my clumsiness.
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‘Computer: This seems very hard. Am I doing something wrong?’
“No Joran. The micro adjusters are off-line and you are using the main thrusters.
I can reduce the control span and that may make it easier, but you will need the full
range when we get back into the atmosphere.”
‘Ok, reduce the range now and change it back when we need it back in the
atmosphere.’
“Ok.”
That was better. As the shuttle continued to rotate I gave the control a slight blip
in the opposite direction. That slowed the rotation noticeably. I gave it another blip
and it slowed some more. One more blip should do it, but then we would be
stationary and at the wrong angle. I waited and as we approached the upside down
position I gave it another blip. Not quite right but close enough.
I pulled the column back a bit and from my previous experience I immediately
let it return. This was something that one could overdo rather easily, but there was
not a problem if one under did it a few times. I felt no sensation of motion, but
there was a slight vibration for a few seconds.
‘Was that it computer?’
“The vibration I detected was consistent with what one could expect. Do it again
a bit harder.”
This time the vibration was a bit harder and lasted a bit longer. We kept this up
for some time having longer and longer goes at it.
‘How are we doing now?’
“I can’t say how we are doing until the sensors are pointing towards the planet
again. I would not recommend turning the shuttle again at this point.”
No, well, I could agree with that. It took long enough and used enough fuel last
time. This time I pulled the control back a bit harder. Instead of lasting for one
minute the vibration lasted for two minutes, three minutes. I was getting worried. I
kept looking up at the top of the Armaplex frame. The hull was beginning to glow
a dull cherry red. I had overdone it. There was a smashing, tearing sound on the top
of the hull. It scared the living daylights out of me, so I have no idea what it was
doing to the passengers.
‘Computer. What do you think that sound was?’
“That was probably the remnants of the navigational array falling off. It’s
nothing to worry about. If there is a hull breach then there will be explosive
decompression. You will know about it immediately and be dead a few seconds
later.”
That’s right cheer me up. We bounced back out of it and the hull cooled off back
to its normal colour.
‘Pilot to passengers. That noise was just the long range sensor array being
worn away. It’s not needed now and we were expecting that to happen. There will
probably be more bashing and crashing as the rest of the metalwork up on top gets
burned away. It’s nothing to worry about.’
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I didn’t really believe me; I hoped they did.
‘Computer. The hull was glowing dull red before. Is that bad?’
“No Joran, that is not bad. We save fuel by running it hotter than this on each
bounce. So long as it does not get to bright-white it is ok.”
Ok. In that case I would have to push it a bit harder. Bright red that time. A
pretty colour, but scarier definitely. There was more scraping down the hull. This
was a trial of mental strength as much as anything. Which would break first; the
shuttle or my will-power? There was no contest. It was not my will-power alone. I
had my woman watching me; I would not let her down. She represented the
passengers in the back. I would not let them down either.
Again. This time the hull reached a pale yellow. Now I was sweating. After each
pressure on the control there was a delay and then an indeterminate period of
vibration and heating. You could not predict when it would end. The time taken to
cool the hull down was increasing. That was only to be expected. Perhaps it was
not cooling enough. I had been at it for over two hours and I was getting tired.
Filicia was keeping an eye on me.
“You need to take a break. The planet is not going anywhere. Leave it alone for
a few minutes and take a walk around. I am going to get you something to drink.”
That was the end of that conversation. She unstrapped herself from her seat, so I
wasn’t about to be doing any manoeuvring. She quickly returned with an orange
drink which I rapidly dispatched whilst walking around the cockpit. It was true that
being seated at the controls for so long had dulled my awareness and ability. It was
not clear how long a rest was going to restore me, however.
I thought it would be good to give the passengers a rest too. They had been
strapped into their seats for as long as I had and they must have been just as tense.
‘Computer: Are we stable and safe here?’
“I can’t tell you that Joran. We are facing away from the planet.”
‘Oh well we’ll soon fix that. You have been monitoring all the moves I have been
making haven’t you?’
“Yes.”
‘Well then, I bet you can rotate the shuttle back to face the planet using hardly
any fuel at all can’t you?’
“Yes.”
‘Ok, then do it now.’
I wasn’t strapped in and neither was Filicia, but the computer was going to
execute a minimal fuel rotation. There was no danger. Sure enough the outside
view through the Armaplex window started to turn very slowly. We must have
taken a full minute to turn and then the motion stopped.
‘Nice job computer. Now, are we stable and safe?’
“The orbit is not stable now because we have been decelerating. We are in a
decaying orbit. The rate of decay is quite slow at the moment so we are safe for the
next few hours at least.”
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‘Good. You are in charge. Look after us.’
“Ok.”
I looked at Filicia and nodded my head to the door.
‘We could all use a break.’
She nodded agreement and we entered the passenger cabin.
‘Ok people, nothing is going to happen for the next ten minutes so get a drink,
go to the toilet, stretch your legs, whatever. We are still in orbit, but we have
reduced our orbital velocity a little. We’ll take a break before we carry on.’
There was a general murmuring as they unstrapped themselves and started
milling around. It was an almost festive atmosphere. They had more confidence
now because despite all the shrieking metalwork and vibration there had been no
apparent change in our situation. We were still fine. There was no visual key to
suggest that we were in any danger and so they felt safe. Even I felt safe. That was
nice and restful. Soon enough they started filtering back to their seats and buckling
themselves in. Fair enough. They were telling me that they were ready. This was a
group action that was not planned; it just sort of happened that way.
I nodded with my head towards the cockpit and Filicia followed me back. There
was no way she was going to stay out here, so there was no point in fighting that
battle. We entered the cockpit and strapped ourselves in.
‘Computer: Given our current fuel status, what are our chances now?’
“I would estimate that there is now a 70% chance that there will be one or more
survivors.”
‘In that case I guess we have to do some more bouncing to improve the odds.’
“No Joran, we have done all the bouncing that we can. We are inside the
atmosphere now and we are slowing down gradually.”
‘Great. How long will it take us to get to a safe speed?’
“At this rate, fourteen days.”
‘Oh well, that is not too great actually. If we push the shuttle in a bit deeper will
the time reduce?’
“Oh yes.”
‘Will that improve our chances?’
“No, that was already taken into account.”
Filicia was frowning.
“Those odds don’t sound very good. What is the problem?”
I was too worn down to argue about this question or even be annoyed. The
prospect of killing everyone on board now that we were so close was taking its toll
on me. ‘We are travelling too fast. We need more fuel than we have to slow us
down. If we come in at this speed we will burn-up in the atmosphere. If we use the
fuel to slow us down we will run out before we land, so we will free-fall from a
height of … help me out here computer. If we use the fuel to slow us down enough
so that we don’t burn up, how far off the ground will be when we run out of fuel?’
“About one kilometre.”
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‘We will free-fall from about one kilometre up and make a big hole in the
ground.’
Filicia was still frowning.
“How does that give a 70% chance of one or more people surviving?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
‘Computer. How does that give us a 70% chance of one or more people
surviving?’
“The calculation is very rough. It depends on how efficiently you fly, how much
turbulence there is in the air, when you start the descent and many other factors.”
I liked it less and less, the more I heard. Filicia was just getting interested
though. She had not been through it all already.
“Why can’t we use some of the fuel to slow us down, so that we don’t quite burn
up?”
Now I was beginning to lose my cool. ‘The computer already took that into
account when it did its calculations. We already figured on coming in upside down
so that we super-heat the top surface of the hull to slow us down. That still isn’t
enough.’
We both sat there quietly. My gruff tone produced an unintentional rebuke and
she had gone quiet. ‘I’m sorry Filicia, I didn’t mean to bite your head off. I just
can’t see how I can get us home.’
She was more sympathetic with me now. “It just reminds me of my mother
cooking dinner. This is going back a long time now. It seems like another world.”
She giggled childishly. “I keep forgetting. It was not only another world, but it
was also another Star System.”
I giggled foolishly as well. It relieved the tension slightly. She continued with
her reminiscences. “Every Sunday the family would gather around for a big meal. I
would help her to cook it. Then on really special occasions, when we had guests,
we would cook a really big bird for dinner. It took two of us to turn it over.”
This was getting beyond me now. ‘I don’t know much about cooking. My mother
did all the cooking until I got married and then my wife did it. I have never done
any real cooking. What do you mean it took two of you to turn it over.’
She smiled.
“On my world everybody knew how to cook. I didn’t realise yours was any
different. It’s just that when you put a big piece of meat in an oven and cook it, you
have to keep turning the meat around or the top would just burn before the rest was
cooked. With a big piece of meat you have to be even more careful about turning it
over.”
I sat silently for a moment. Surely it couldn’t be that simple?
‘Computer. If we rotate the shuttle on its axis as we re-enter, will that help to
reduce the fuel requirements?’
“Yes.”
‘Give me some details.’
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“If we run each of the four faces of the hull up to critical before rotating to the
next face, we will be able to dissipate significantly more heat into the atmosphere.
It may then be possible to land, but there would be no spare fuel to manoeuvre.”
I thought about it for a few moments to let it sink in.
‘Y_E_S! WE’RE GOING TO MAKE IT!’
I was wriggling about in my chair and waving my arms about in the air, whilst
Filicia was just sitting there calmly. She waited for me to quiet down before she
spoke. “Well I never doubted it for a moment.”
And then she smiled one of those galaxy illuminating smiles. How could you do
anything else but love a woman like that? ‘Ok computer, can you compute the rate
of roll and take us in?’
“No Joran. The rotational inertial navigation sensors broke when we did that
high acceleration thrust to allow us to make orbit. I can’t sense our attitude any
more. You are going to have to take us in on the manual controls. There is also
another problem. The ship cannot roll cleanly. The hull cross-section is essentially
rectangular. What will happen is that as you try to roll it, when we are heavily into
the atmosphere, it will flip onto the next side very rapidly. This will mean that the
gravity compensators will not be able to smooth out the changes.”
‘Ok. Will the changes be so severe as to break bones and damage us, or will it
just be a bit rough?’
“There is no data to base an estimate on; this is an extremely non-standard
procedure. My record of these shuttles goes back over five hundred years. In all
that time nothing like this has ever been done. A simulation of the flight mechanics
could be performed, but it would take several days to complete. I would estimate
that it will be very rough, but survivable with no fatal injuries.”
I wasn’t about to ask for the odds now. This was it. I hit the control for the
speaker system. ‘Ok people, we are going in. Good luck to us all.’
‘Computer. We are going in. Let me know when to flip us to the next face and
leave enough safety margin so that we don’t overheat if I am a bit slow making the
turn.’
“Acknowledged. … I hope you make it Joran.”
‘Me too.’
I pushed the stick forward and felt the whole ship start to vibrate. This was the
same as we had felt before, when we were bouncing into the atmosphere. This time
there was going to be no respite.
The outside of the ship was beginning to glow a dull red, now a bright red. It
was difficult to look at it. The ship was bucking backwards and forwards now. This
was like nothing we had done before. I was starting to sweat with the exertion and
a quick glance at Filicia showed she was sweating too.
‘Computer. Is it getting hot in here?’
“Yes Joran, and it is going to get hotter still. The environmental system is now
being overloaded. There is no way to increase its cooling capability.”
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‘Is it time to turn yet?’
“No, not yet.”
‘Can’t we turn a lot earlier so we reduce the risk?’
“No. It takes fuel to turn. We can’t afford to turn unnecessarily.”
‘Computer, the hull is looking yellow now.’
“It can take a bit more still. When it is white then we will turn.”
It didn’t take much longer. The colour change was a continuous progression. It
was hard to say when it changed from being yellow to being white when you were
just looking at it all the time.
“It is time to turn now, Joran.”
I turned the control column to the left and nothing much happened. It was hard
to see what was going on outside, but there was no feeling that anything had
changed.
‘Computer, nothing seemed to happen.’
“You must ROTATE the shuttle Joran. The hull temperature is getting critical.
Turn the control more until you feel the ship flip. If you don’t turn the control
enough, you will just waste fuel and it will not turn enough to flip it to the other
face. DO IT NOW!”
Even the computer was getting excited! I turned the control gradually and as
nothing happened, I kept turning it more and more. Suddenly there was a flip and
the shock caused me to let go of the control column momentarily. This was not a
problem because the column immediately returned to the neutral position.
I was disorientated for several seconds and when I had regained my bearings, I
could see that the trails of vapour coming up the front of the Armaplex screen were
now at right angles to where they had been. I had turned it!
‘Ok, I turned it. Now what?’
“Just leave it until I tell you to turn it again.”
The buffeting continued and the outside of the hull went up through red and
yellow much more rapidly than before.
“Time to turn it.”
I had more idea of how much to turn the control column now and we flipped
over more quickly. The sudden shock as we turned was the same, but I was more
prepared; this time I actually held onto the control column.
“That was better. Less fuel was used to turn the shuttle.”
‘Hey, wait a minute. How do you know that the shuttle is turned? I thought that
the rotational inertial navigation sensor was broken, so that you couldn’t tell
which way up we are.’
“That is true, but by monitoring the hull temperature distribution and the gravity
compensation vector I can sense that a change has been made.”
‘In that case you must be able to turn the ship yourself and do it more efficiently
than me as well.’
“Yes.”
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‘Well you do it then, but give everyone a brief warning before each turn.’
“Acknowledged.”
I let go of the control column.
‘Why did you tell me that you couldn’t do the turns yourself?’
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realise that I could. I am used to following instructions and
flying a shuttle that works properly. I was not programmed to invent new solutions
to problems. I am programmed only to give solutions to problems that have already
been worked out.”
There was a moment of quiet. The background noise from outside was constant
and we no longer even paid any attention to it; the computer just went quiet for a
moment.
“Prepare for the next turn. Turning …now!”
The turns were getting more and more frequent as we plunged into the
atmosphere. Sweat was pouring off my forehead and if Filicia was anything to go
by, everybody else was getting near the limits of their endurance too. Filicia had
slumped forward in her chair, unconscious. I could hardly speak, let alone move.
‘Computer. We can’t last much longer. It’s too hot. Can’t you use some fuel to
slow us down?’
“No Joran. You will notice that I am having to turn the shuttle more frequently
now. The whole hull is getting too hot. It’s going to get hotter inside Joran, a lot
hotter.”
‘Will we survive?’
“I don’t know. I can land the shuttle intact now Joran. There is just enough fuel
for the shuttle to land. When the sensors have been pointing downwards I have
plotted our position. I still have the original survey data from this planet. We
should have just enough fuel to land the shuttle in one piece, what I don’t know is
if the heat will be too much for you.”
‘Does it make any difference?’
“Yes. If I have to use fuel to slow the shuttle down to keep minimise the heat
then there may not be enough fuel to land.”
I looked over at Filicia for inspiration. She had passed out and her limp body
was hanging from the set straps. I didn’t feel in much better shape either.
‘Alright, then use me as a reference. As long as I am conscious the others should
be ok as well. When I pass out then start using the fuel to moderate the
temperature. Can you do that?’
“Yes.”
‘I also need you to talk to me constantly, to check that I am still conscious and
to help me stay awake. Can you do that as well?’
“Yes Joran. Tell me about your father.”
‘My father was Mordan, son of Anovan. He was a farmer … like me.’
“Talk to me Joran; tell me more about your father.”
‘Tired. Can’t keep … eyes closing.’
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“WAKE UP JORAN. YOU HAVE TO STAY AWAKE!”
‘I’m …awake.’
“Tell me a secret.”
‘I don’t know any secrets. Can’t tell any secrets. You would tell.’
“I won’t tell anyone Joran. Tell me.”
‘I love Filicia … and Lyra. It’s wrong to love them both but I do.’
“I know. Tell me some more.”
‘I hated the Founders and I killed them. I killed them all. And I killed all the
people in the City too. Thousands of them. I am a bad person; I deserve to die.’
“I know, you are very bad, but you can’t die yet. There are fifteen people on
board and they need you Joran. They are relying on you. You have to keep awake
or they will all die. You will have killed them. You don’t want to kill Filicia and
Lyra do you?”
‘… no.’
“Then you have to stay awake a bit longer then. …Do you hear me Joran. You
have to stay awake a bit longer.”
‘I hear you. I’ll try.’
I was back on the farm having a private lesson on the Old Knowledge. ‘Uncle.
What do you do when there is no hope left and you know that you are beaten?’
“When you know there is no hope left then you have already lost. You must
never, never, NEVER, give up all hope. Rescue could be just around the corner.
You must fight with every particle of your being. You must fight for every last
breath. You must hang on even though others give up. There is no honour in
failure; there is no peace for those who quit. If you die having tried that is
sufficient. I cannot give you a secret mantra to chant, there is no magic formula to
remember. This is something that is a part of you. When it comes to the point
where you feel you have no hope and you might just as well give up, then reduce
the problem. Look at each action as itself. If you have to walk then take one step,
then another, then another. Concentrate on making that leg move for just one more
step. Have no other thought in your mind. Take each step, one step at a time. The
body is far stronger than the mind would think possible. When the body says it
can’t go on it is lying. You then have to pick it up and make it move by sheer force
of will. Don’t think of the whole body, break it down. You want to move those
muscles in your leg or those muscles in your arm. Focus on each muscle. The cells
in the body won’t die for a very long time. Just make sure each cell keeps fighting
for survival. Do you understand Joran?”
‘Yes Uncle, I understand.’
The farm faded out and the shuttle viewport faded back in.
“Joran. Do you hear me?”
‘Yes computer, I hear you. I’m tired.’
“I know Joran. It is only a bit further now.”
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‘Do I have to …stay awake.’
“Yes Joran. Just a little bit longer.”
‘Computer. Do you think I am a bad person?’
“Yes Joran, you are a very bad person, but if you stay awake then I’ll forgive
you.”
‘Why?’
“You didn’t want to be bad did you?”
‘No.’
“Then I’ll forgive you if you keep awake.”
‘Why?’
“If even one person survives on this shuttle you will have redeemed yourself.”
‘Thank you.’
“Joran, the hull is cooling now. We are the right way up and the landing point is
plotted. We have just enough fuel to land now Joran.”
‘Can I go to sleep now?’
“Yes Joran.”
‘Computer, will I be forgiven?’
I never did hear an answer to that last question and nobody else was conscious for
that last part of the trip, so I can only surmise what happened next. It seems as if
the intelligence that was the computer, set up a glide path in the simpler more
robust systems before it burned out. The calculation was not precise and we crash
landed at a shallow angle into some low ridges, rocks and shrubbery.
I awoke to find the shuttle on the ground in a valley. The valley walls soared up
into the sky as I gazed out of the Armaplex window through half-open bleary eyes.
I also saw a trail of people carrying supplies out of the shuttle and returning for
more.
I was alone in the cockpit, still strapped into my seat. I took several deep breaths
to stabilise myself before unstrapping the harness that held me upright. It was just
as well that I waited, because even with that short rest, I still nearly fell out of the
chair when the straps came free. I was exhausted and yet the others were up and
working.
Before I could summon the strength to get up out of the chair, Filicia came back
into the cockpit. She hugged me from around the back of the chair.
“Hello sleepy head. Welcome back to the land of the living.”
Well she was alright at least. I was confused as usual. ‘What happened?’
She looked at me surprised. “Well obviously you got us down safely and then
passed out. I didn’t want to force you to wake up after one of your super-human
stunts; I know how you were after your mis-adventure with the Teacher. I just got
everyone else moving, unloading the supplies. We are setting up camp in the
clearing over there. There is a running stream over there too. There aren’t any big
trees unfortunately, but that shouldn’t be a problem given all the supplies we
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brought. The red-head is going to stay here with the old man until we get set up.
You did it Joran. You saved us all. Nobody was even injured during the landing,
nobody.”
With this she let me go and I recovered gradually from the effects of having my
chest crushed by an overly enthusiastic hug. I was going to get up then, but she put
a hand on my shoulder. “You just sit there for a few minutes and let us do some
work for a change. You have done enough work for today. You just sit there and
let us do something. We haven’t had a chance to do anything for the last few
weeks. You have to let us do this ourselves.”
I just nodded; I wasn’t in any sort of shape to argue. She slipped out of the
cockpit as silently as she had entered and I recovered gracefully in the chair. Of
course I could see out, but they couldn’t see in. Standard Founder policy; don’t
give away anything, even a view of the inside of the shuttle.
I had only been alone for a few minutes when the red-head came in. She ruffled
my hair. “Well done Joran, and thank you.”
I just smiled in response to that. ‘How is the old man.’
“He isn’t doing too well I’m afraid. That landing was pretty hard on him.”
‘Do you think he will ever recover?’
She looked sad and was about to answer when an image appeared in front of us.
I practically jumped out of my skin. It was Founder Ruddoc!
“This is an automated warning system. Somebody has tampered with the seals to
the drive system on this shuttle. That is not acceptable. Enter the appropriate code
sequence or this shuttle will self-destruct.”
The image remained stationary and impassive. I looked at the red-head and she
looked at me. This was like no image I had ever seen. It was not flat; you could see
around it. It seemed to be solid and yet you could actually see through it. The
red-head recovered her composure first. “It’s a hologram.”
She nodded in the direction of the passenger cabin. “I hope he knows what to
do.” She rushed through to the passenger cabin, but I stayed where I was.
‘Computer, cancel self-destruct.’ No response.
‘Computer. Identify pilot Joran, sequence 123-456-789.’ No response.
‘Damn it computer, it’s me Joran. Stop the self-destruct.’ No response.
The image of Ruddoc started to move.
“Evidently this shuttle has been taken over by enemy forces or traitors to the
City. Traitors to the City, feel the power of the Founders!”
His face screwed up in a bitter frown, but nothing else happened. Then I heard
the red-head calling. I rushed through to the passenger cabin, all previous
weakness washed from by limbs.
The old man was convulsing. As a ran towards them I realised.
‘It’s the collar. The self-defence mechanism has activated the collar. We need to
get him as far away from the ship as possible.’
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We picked him up and started carrying him to the exit. The corridors were
mostly clear now; most of the supplies had been unloaded. As we neared the exit
the speaker system burst into life.
“You have five minutes to enter the abort code before this shuttle
self-destructs.”
The three other people on board looked at us and the red-head just shouted at
them. “Grab what you can and get out. Tell the others to get clear. This shuttle is
going to blow!”
We carried on struggling out of the rear of the shuttle and stopped any more
re-entering the shuttle. It was a continuous drone of us shouting ‘Get back!’, ‘Get
away, it’s going to blow’. Any and all variations, as we struggled breathlessly
along the trail blazed by the others.
As we moved down the path, I noticed an outcrop of rock that had ruptured a
hull plate of the shuttle. That is what had triggered the self-destruct. There were
actually very few rocks in the area and we had just been wretchedly unlucky to
have hit that particular one.
We arrived at the encampment after a couple of minutes and the shaking of the
old man’s limbs had stopped. Lyra had seen us struggling with the old man and
rushed to help. We had sent her back to the encampment to get a plasma torch, so
by the time we placed him down in the centre of the supplies, Lyra was back with
the torch.
This was dangerous; there was no telling what cutting the collar off would do to
him. However, it was very certain that he would die otherwise. The red-head held
the collar, one hand either side of where I was going to cut it. I made a single swift
cut through it and she wrenched the collar open and threw it as far as she could.
This was an unusual show of strength. The collar was not designed to bend in
that manner and there were bits of plastic left behind where the casing had
fractured as she forced it open with her nervous energy. The collar never hit the
ground. It exploded with a tiny puff in mid-air. That was a good reason not to mess
with a collar!
We inspected the old man. He was hardly breathing, but still clinging on to life.
We were wondering what to do when there was an almighty explosion and we
were knocked over by its blast. When we picked ourselves up there was no shuttle
left. There was only a big hole where it had been and soil fused into shiny
glass-like beads. Standard Founder policy; give nothing to your enemy.
The red-head checked the old man. He was gone. She straightened out his legs
and folded his arms over his chest. Somebody passed some sort of cloth over to the
red-head and she placed it over him. There were no tears, no regrets. He had saved
us all, but he had been old and frail. The collar had put him out of his misery
really. It was ok to let him go.
The red-head and I had been kneeling by the old man and now we stood up. The
others were gathering around us. Filicia and Lyra went to the red-head and put
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their arms around her. It wasn’t so much comforting the red-head as comforting
each other.
As the others moved in closer, a circle formed with us four at the centre. I
looked around at the faces and they were all looking at me. Everyone was looking
at me. It wasn’t something I wanted, but I could see their point. I had done the
survival training course. It looked like I was going to have to take charge, at least
for a while. There was a lot of work to do, but we weren’t afraid of that. We were
on a planet and we were on our own. It was now a question of survival. Well I was
the survival expert, trained by the Founders. We would survive. We were free now.
We had earned the right to survive.
Please don’t give or lend this book to anyone. Let them buy their own copy. It
takes a lot of time and effort to write a book; the fee paid is part of my wages.
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