Blocks

by Tara Basi

  As the conversation wound on Mina found her gaze repeatedly drawn back to Grain. He hadn’t said anything, but he was listening intently, carefully studying the crew. When he met Mina’s gaze he locked her with his eyes and smiled. She shivered.

  At the end of each day that followed the crew would gather in the galley to report their lack of progress. The mystery of Earth’s missing population and the growing possibility that they might never escape the Small Business darkened the mood a little more each day.

  “Billions of people just don’t vanish, and what are those things?” Captain Cole directed at Sara, the best mind on the Small Business.

  “If anyone’s left on Earth the only place they could be is inside those structures, they’re big enough. As for the miniatures, how they vanish or appear is a complete mystery. I guess there’s some sort of portal near the moon, but without going for a look it’s all guesswork,” Sara answered calmly even though what she was saying was very scary.

  “They’re definitely alien then?” Mina half concluded but Sara didn’t answer. She just shrugged her shoulders.

  “Nine billion, all gone, inside?” Greg whispered to himself.

  “Nine a century ago, at least twelve billion by now,” Doug added without any emotion.

  “What about docking,” Cole directed at Mina, ignoring Doug and Greg.

  “So far none of the simulations have worked,” Mina answered.

  “What does that mean?” Lieutenant Grain asked with a warm smile.

  “The ship goes boom and everyone dies, horribly,” Doug added in a flat tone.

  “We’ve still got things to try, give us a couple of more days,” Mina interjected before Doug could explain any more of the depressing details.

  As more days went by without a docking solution the strain of their situation and what had happened to the Earth was corroding their reason. Doug was losing it, Greg wasn’t faring much better but it was Lieutenant Grain who unnerved Mina most. As the days passed he seemed too calm, too friendly. Mina had watched Grain methodically working the ship. Everyone got a slice of his easy charm. Not that Sara seemed to notice. She appeared drawn to the man.

  “Do you trust him?” Mina asked Sara as they stood alone in the galley, each sucking bitter coffee through a straw from a plastic pouch.

  “Who?” Sara replied, staring at Grain on the other side of the cabin in conversation with Cole.

  “Grain,” Mina said, nodding her head in his direction.

  “He and the commander really seem to have hit it off. Must be nice for Cole to have proper company after years of babysitting us. And, what’s not to trust?”

  Grain noticed the two women staring and beamed a smile.

  “He has to be running away from something pretty bad to throw himself a hundred years into the future,” Mina continued, turning her back on his smile.

  “What about us?” Sara countered, returning Grain’s smile.

  “Come on, we’re scientists, it was the chance of a lifetime and we… appreciate the future,” Mina replied defensively.

  “And you escaped an open sewer of a personal life. Besides, what future?” Sara added sadly.

  “You’ve obviously got the hots for Grain,” Mina said wanting to quickly get off the subject of her past.

  Sara gaze hardened, “Wake up Mina, everyone’s probably dead. It’s end of the world and he’s my last man alive.”

  “What? You’re joking, he’s a slime ball,” Mina answered, astonished at the conviction in Sara’s voice.

  “But he’s my slime ball, OK?” Sara spat as though Mina was a stupid school girl trying to steal her boyfriend.

  “Whatever, I’d rather go without,” Mina mumbled, not wanting to get into a fight with Sara.

  “Good, otherwise I’d have had to kill you, you’re way too beautiful,” Sara whispered, then giggled.

  Mina was a classic Persian beauty with latte coloured skin, lightly pock marked by a childhood disease. Her scimitar nose looked down on a thick lipped, sensual mouth. Like her eyes, her hair was dark and had been hacked back to a utilitarian crop for the voyage.

  Mina smiled nervously and decided she needed to get back to working on a docking solution, maybe get a different perspective. She’d talk to Trinity, the ship’s computer system.

  Standing by her workbench she called up Trinity’s prototype interface, her main research project. Trinity had been studying the crew’s interactions with each other, evolving its own personality. Mina thought it was a disaster, but not unexpected given the way the crew treated each other. Horrible though the interface was it beat banging away at a screen for hours. She plugged in her earphone and flipped the dreaded switch.

  “Hello Tea Bag, stuck again, need some help?” the supercilious Trinity asked.

  “Don’t call me that,” Mina replied in frustration.

  “Hey, that’s what everyone calls you, behind your back. There goes Tea Bag, she’s wet, she’s brown. Fits, doesn’t it?” Trinity answered.

  “Forget it. I ran the latest docking simulations. Ramming the couplings together isn’t going to work. Got any other ideas?” Mina knew it was a waste of time trying to argue with Trinity about its nickname for her. One reason she kept the interface to herself. Mina had nightmares about Sara and Trinity in conversation and saying the most awful things about her.

  “Only the same one as you, but you’re too scared, right?” Trinity teased.

  “Piss off,” Mina replied angrily but Trinity was right, there was another option and she was scared.

  Mina returned to work with Doug. Three days later they formed a plan. Doug wasn’t happy but Mina didn’t care anymore. This was the best of the worst they could come up with, and they needed to do something. Doug was falling apart, others were not far behind. She just wasn’t volunteering to execute the plan. Someone else was going have to save them, someone crazy.

  Chapter 3 – Dark

  Battery Boy looked back over his shoulder and saw nothing. He could hear the sounds of Stuff and Jugger trotting close behind. Ahead was only the pool of light cast by his torch. The tiny circle of brightness wobbled like something physical Battery Boy was pushing through the thick darkness.

  The hunter’s head had stayed on and, for now, he seemed willing to see where Battery Boy’s map led. The cryptic map in the old-boy’s book had only vague instructions. It pointed him towards the deepest dark where he should look for lights that led to a path through a maze and at the end of the path, he would find a door.

  If this underneath was the darkness, then at its heart, under the very centre of the Block, was a maze. But first he would see the lights. With nothing else to go on Battery Boy headed for the middle of the Block’s underbelly, hoping to see some sign they were on the right path before stopping to rest.

  The three boys alternated between jogging and walking. Battery Boy thought they might as well have been standing still for all the change it brought in their surroundings. Under the circle of light was the same sandy rocky earth. No plants, no life, just an occasional pool of oily water filled by water droplets condensing on the underside of the Block. They would not go thirsty but there was nothing to eat. The air tasted of dust and smelled bad, in a way he couldn’t name.

  “Can we stop, just for a minute, please,” Stuff begged breathlessly.

  “Five minutes, that’s all,” Battery Boy answered with little sympathy. Stuff slumped on the ground gasping for air as Battery Boy switched off the torch, anxious to save the battery.

  “Keep stopping and we’ll starve before we ever find your door. How far is it?” Jugger growled from the dark, breathing without effort.

  “Like I told you, it’s up ahead, that’s all you need to know,” Battery Boy replied with a confidence he didn’t have. He had no idea how far away the door was. Jugger was right about starving. If there was no door they would need to get back to the wasteland and hope to find some food. Turning back would not please Jugger, he’d likely try and kill them both.
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  “Listen skinny, I need him, I don’t need you. Keep stopping and I’ll eat your guts,” Jugger hissed at Stuff.

  “Leave him alone, let’s go,” Battery Boy shouted before Stuff could waste any energy fighting with Jugger.

  Battery Boy held his breath for a moment and thumbed the torch switch. The light flashed on and Battery Boy breathed out. Jugger’s torch was in his bag, as backup. If that failed they would be buried alive in the endless dark under the Block. A suffocating thought that pushed Battery Boy on through the dusty air and its ugly odour, towards… what?

  Only the compass needle gave Battery Boy any sense that they were travelling somewhere. Every pool looked the same, the ground never changed. Was the compass broken? Did it even work underneath the Block? Were they just running in endless circuits around the same patch of darkness; going nowhere.

  Sometimes he thought he saw sparks of light ahead but they disappeared when he stopped to stare. Straining to catch any light he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and, each time, for a few moments, wriggling snakes flashed everywhere before disappearing.

  Better to keep moving, till they ran into whatever was holding the Block up. Hopefully it would give him a clue about direction. As they travelled deeper in to the dark Battery Boy felt strangely calm. If it all went bad he’d know he tried to find Tress, not just talked about it. Here he was doing something, not just surviving. In the dark he smiled and his eyes humoured him with a faint flash. He was obviously getting tired; maybe they should take another rest.

  “There’s lights ahead!” Stuff squealed.

  The three boys stopped and Battery Boy switched off his torch and stared ahead into nothing. Then, in the far distance, there was a faint, yellow lighthouse beam erupting from the base of the Block directed straight down at the ground. The blast of light lasted a second. After a minute or so another flash, much further off, then again, nearer this time. Seemingly random strobes appearing and disappearing unevenly spread across the otherwise blank vista ahead.

  “See, dickhead, he’s got a porpoise,” Stuff directed at the unseen Jugger.

  “A porpoise?” Jugger asked, ignoring Stuff’s jibe, for the moment.

  “He means purpose, it’s his little joke. Let’s keep going,” Battery Boy explained.

  “Crazy kid. Listen, you call me anything but Jugger again and I’ll bite your tongue out of your head and spit it in your face,” Jugger calmly told Stuff and it was obvious he meant it.

  “He’s just kidding, let’s go,” Battery Boy interjected, trying to keep things calm knowing, even with the gun, in this dark, he probably couldn’t stop Jugger doing whatever he wanted.

  “No, not till you tell me where. OK we seen some lights, what’s next?” Jugger replied in the same calm menacing tone.

  “There’s a maze, the map’s got directions for getting through the maze to a door. That’ll take us to the free people, food, light, water. You don’t have to come, you can take your torch and go wherever you want,” Battery Boy answered as confidently as he could. He knew Jugger was always weighing the idea of killing them and taking his bag against waiting to see where Battery Boy might lead him.

  “Lead on… Mr Boss,” Jugger replied, as though the question of doing anything else have never entered his head.

  Battery Boy knew Jugger wasn’t used to taking orders from anyone except his Band and he’d put up with it so long as Jugger thought it was good for Jugger.

  Battery Boy decided to push on and see if they could find the edge of the maze. He had no idea what to expect and the lightshow was getting ever more bizarre. The otherwise empty blackness would light up with a solid bright pillar of light in one place then another, in rapid succession. The night would flow back over everything and for many minutes there was nothing, then the lights would start chasing each other in some other part of the dark. It was impossible to get any idea of scale, how far away the lights were or even their size; it seemed completely random. It was as though invisible giants were playing pinball on a vast arcade machine, just like the ones he loved to play in school.

  As they travelled, the dancing lights seemed to be coming a little closer. Battery Boy slowed the pace and moved forward more cautiously. It wasn’t only the lights that were new. There were small changes in their limited view of the landscape, scrappy strands of plant life, an occasional large insect scuttling away, a north-south wind that was slowly increasing in intensity as they travelled east, a smoothing of the ground with fewer and fewer rocks. And the disgusting smell was getting stronger. Soon the ground flowing under their feet was completely flat as though rolled by something heavy. Apart from the occasional weak tendrils of pale plants the hard packed earth was devoid of features.

  Their pace picked up almost involuntarily. They were moving effortlessly over the packed ground, seduced to go a little faster, anxious to find the next piece in the puzzle-map, the maze where the three boys could stop and rest.

  With the strange flashing lights still a long way off Battery Boy relied on the torch to show the way, a few metres at a time. He saw the smooth, raised edge of something ahead just in time to stop abruptly. Stuff and Jugger ran into his back throwing him forward. He tripped on the edge, and tried to grab hold of empty air. He could hear Stuff screaming sluggishly. His light shone on his legs but there was only an empty void underneath his feet. He was falling.

  Pain cut across his chest and under his arm and ripped his shoulder muscles. His head was thrown back against a cold unyielding surface, almost knocking him out. He was hanging, suspended by just the strap of his bag; his feet were dangling in empty space. At his back was the unseen wall he’d been slapped against, as hard as glass and just as smooth. Somehow, he’d kept hold of his torch. He pointed it straight up and could see the old boy’s canvas bag strap travel up and vanished over the edge. Below, the torch could pick out nothing in the deep darkness.

  “I’ve got the bag strap, don’t move. Help me Stuff, now,” Jugger shouted.

  “Don’t let go, I’ve got it,” Stuff answered in a trembling, panic stricken voice.

  “There’s an edge, lock your heels behind it and pull hard,” Jugger instructed Stuff.

  Battery Boy’s thoughts reeled. He’d fallen down a hole. He kept the torch pointing straight up; it was the only light that Stuff and Jugger had, the spare was in his bag.

  “Grab my hand,” Jugger shouted as his face appeared at the edge and his outstretched muscular arm snaked down towards Battery Boy.

  Battery Boy threw the torch up, above his head and over the edge towards the voices. With his left hand Battery Boy grabbed the strap and pulled up as hard as he could while swinging up his right hand to snatch at Jugger’s reaching fingers. He missed and fell back sending shock waves through the canvas strap and releasing desperate grunts from Jugger and Stuff.

  “Again, now, I can’t hold you much longer,” Jugger shouted down.

  Battery Boy took a deep breath and repeated the pull with his left hand and the lunge with his right, throwing every ounce of strength he had into the double movement.

  “Got you,” Jugger shouted.

  Desperate moments of straining followed before Jugger managed to haul Battery Boy up and back on to firm ground, like a landed fish.

  For minutes the three lay on the earth in silence, panting heavily.

  “You all right,” Stuff asked when he’d recovered his breath. He held the torch Battery Boy had thrown up and was shining a trembling beam of light directly into Battery Boy’s face.

  “Just winded, give me the torch, I want to check the bag,” Battery Boy answered, desperate to see if anything had fallen out. Thankfully, nothing was missing.

  “What is it, that hole, or whatever?” Stuff asked still breathing hard.

  “Is it the maze?” Jugger demanded.

  “Maybe, we’ll have to check, see how big it is and if there are others. And, thanks,” Battery Boy answered, knowing without Jugger’s help he might still be falling.
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  Jugger didn’t reply, just grunted.

  Battery Boy knelt down and examined the edge. The hole was lined with a jet-black marble substance that overflowed to form an even edge a metre wide, and a few centimetres high. Lying on his stomach with his head over the edge and the light shining straight down didn’t tell him anything about how deep it might be. Battery Boy scratched at the smooth, hard packed earth and dug up some loose gravel. He dropped it down the hole and waited. Silence.

  Leaving a mark on the ground to indicate their starting point, Battery Boy got to his feet and they set off to gingerly walk the edge and discover its dimensions. They soon found the bottomless pit was a perfect rectangle about twenty-five by fifty paces.

  “What’s this, your maze, not much of a puzzle. Where’s the door?” Jugger asked, his frustration obviously mounting.

  “What’s it for? A hole underneath?” Stuff added still breathless with fear. He obviously thought he’d lost Battery Boy for good.

  “Give me a minute,” Battery Boy answered and sat down cross-legged to study the map. The maze in the map was described by numbers, big numbers. Things had to be counted off, then a turn, then more counting, then another turn, without ever saying what the things being counted were. The lights started flashing far in the distance again, jumping randomly across the dark, the last one closer than ever. Then the black swallowed everything up. The temporary light show gave him sudden inspiration.

  “This pit is at the edge of the maze, there should be a lot more pits, we have to find the corner, follow me,” Battery Boy ordered and moved off at right angles to the direction they’d been travelling, just before he’d fallen into the pit. Heading north, by the compass, towards the Block edge, Battery Boy scoured the ground ahead.