Blocks

by Tara Basi

  “You just left us,” Battery Boy said to Jugger.

  “And?” Jugger answered, seemingly surprised that Battery Boy even asked the question.

  “Let’s just rest here for a moment,” Battery Boy replied, too tired to start an argument he knew would be pointless.

  “Nowhere to go anyway, this… door, is locked.” Jugger stared at the glass panel that stopped them moving forward down the corridor.

  The boys relaxed and collapsed on to the floor, their backs against the wall. The girl remained crunched up in a tight angular ball.

  “You all right,” Battery Boy asked her.

  “The light really hurts,” she answered.

  “Try this,” suggested Stuff, handing her a narrow strip of thin material he had pulled off the hem of his tattered shirt.

  The girl gratefully blindfolded herself. The material was threadbare enough to see through but shaded her sensitive eyes. Even so she stayed squatting on the floor with her head in her knees.

  “The free people live underground? Under the Block?” Stuff asked as he gazed back up the white stairs towards the doorway in the ceiling they’d just tumbled through.

  “Looks like it. I don’t know,” Battery Boy answered, too tired to think about where they’d ended up.

  “So, what now, your people coming for us?” the girl asked,

  “People? Right, you think we’re QQ. I just found a map and the key, followed it to the door. Don’t know any more than that,” Battery Boy answered.

  “You shit, you lied to me, the QQ gonna chuck us out and Worry’s waiting up top. You bastard, you shit,” the girl screamed into her knees, rocking back and forth with fury.

  “I like her,” Jugger said and, for the first time since Battery Boy had met him, Jugger smiled.

  “They’re not gonna throw us out, are they?” Stuff whimpered.

  “No, wouldn’t have let us in just to chuck us out. What’s your name?” Battery Boy directed at the girl.

  “Pinkie, and you’d better be right or I’m gonna get you,” Pinkie answered without looking up.

  There was a faint whoosh as the glass panel barring their way slid up into the ceiling. Jugger paused for a moment, then carefully edged forward. Battery Boy bundled Stuff and a cursing Pinkie ahead of him as he followed Jugger. About five metres along the corridor Jugger abruptly came to a halt as he bumped into another glass panel. There was the whooshing sound again but the door ahead hadn’t opened. Battery Boy spun around in time to see the glass door behind them lock in place leaving them trapped, sandwiched between the two doors in the metre wide corridor.

  “Strip and leave your things on the floor. Until you do, the doors stay closed.”

  Battery Boy couldn’t tell where the old-boy’s voice was coming from and he couldn’t see anybody, apart from them; the corridor remained empty.

  “Who’s that?” Pinkie asked.

  “Don’t know,” Battery Boy answered.

  Jugger hurled himself at the glass door ahead and just bounced off.

  “Guess we don’t have a choice,” Jugger announced, rubbing his shoulder. He started taking off his clothes.

  Battery Boy followed, so did Stuff. They stood naked, except Pinkie still had her blindfold and Battery Boy clutched the old-boy’s bag to his chest.

  “Everything, no exceptions or you’ll just stay there,” the voice ordered.

  Reluctantly Battery Boy dropped his bag and even less willingly Pinkie peeled off her blind fold and covered her eyes with her arms.

  “Your Band, pull it off, no Bands allowed inside,” the voiced insisted.

  “You crazy, a Band don’t come off. What?” Jugger exclaimed as he tried to show the voice how immobile the Band was only to have the thin white ring crumble and fall away in his hands.

  Almost immediately the door ahead whooshed up and away, inviting them to move further along the corridor. Battery Boy strode forward with a little more confidence, till he met another glass barrier. No Bands was a good sign, a very good sign. He turned and beckoned to the others.

  “Let’s get this over with, come on.”

  Stuff followed, with Pinkie behind keeping one hand on Stuff’s shoulder, the other over her eyes. Jugger came last, stunned that his Band had turned to dust leaving just a clean white ring of un-tanned skin around his neck. When the glass door behind them closed Battery Boy was less alarmed.

  “Don’t be concerned. Stand with your arms out in front of you, legs apart, and keep your eyes shut. The next treatment removes any contamination and will medicate your superficial injuries,” the walls informed them.

  Even with eyes tightly closed Battery Boy could almost see and feel the heat of an intense light moving over his body. Pinkie squealed in pain, probably experiencing the burning brightness more acutely than anyone else. The light vanished abruptly to be followed by a harsh blast of warm acrid air that made Battery Boy’s eyes water, even though his eyelids were tightly shut. The intensity of the light leaking around his crunched up eyes and then its sudden disappearance left him half expecting to open his eyes in darkness. He found only the same corridor lighting as before but his companions were completely different.

  All traces of grime and dried blood had been removed along with every follicle of hair. Their bodies and heads were completely denuded, even their eyebrows and eyelashes had gone. Cuts, scrapes and bruises were visibly less angry as though they had been healing for some days. Stuff started uncontrollably laughing at the others until he realised he was just as bald.

  Ahead, on the floor, beyond another glass door, lay three neat piles of baby blue and one set of pink boiler suits with matching shoes. Battery Boy recognised the style, the same as the dead old-boy in the wastes had been wearing. On top of the pink pile of clothes was a pair of dark glasses. For the first time since entering the white corridor Battery Boy relaxed a little; the QQ people, or whoever it was, weren’t going to all this trouble just to kill them.

  The door opened and Battery Boy guessed there was nothing left between them and the strange waterfall at the end of the corridor. Jugger was already pulling on the new clothes and shoes. Stuff went over to the pink pile, took the sunglasses and brought them to Pinkie.

  “Let me put these over your eyes, it’ll help,” Stuff said to Pinkie as he got her to lower her arms for a moment so he could slip the glasses on.

  “That’s better, I can see, and… god you’re all so fat and you got no hair. What kinda people are you,” Pinkie blurted out.

  “Here put these on,” Battery Boy said, handing her the pink outfit and ignoring her comments. She’d find out soon enough that she was as bald as they were, Battery Boy thought, though it was true, even Stuff looked fat compared to her.

  Pinkie just stared at the clothes seemingly puzzled about their purpose.

  “You must be clothed and shoed,” the voice ordered.

  Looking at how the others had got dressed she eventually copied them. Once everyone was dressed a small panel opened in the corridor wall revealing four tumblers of green liquid and four large white tablets.

  “Drink and swallow the pill, they will treat any minor malady,” the spying voice announced.

  Battery Boy didn’t like the voice telling him what to do but by now it was obvious they didn’t have much choice. He grabbed the glass and washed down the tasteless tablet with the equally bland liquid. The others waited a while, probably to see if he dropped down dead, before joining him.

  “Step through the wall, one by one, it will bring you up to us,” was the last instruction.

  “Up?” Battery Boy whispered to himself, nervous again.

  The waterfall he’d first seen from the bottom of the stairs, a curtain of thick oily water, made up the final barrier. Battery Boy thought it strange that they were going to get soaked and dirty again, after dressing in clean dry clothes. He gingerly stuck his foot into the vertical stream. It was not water or oil; there was no break in the shimmering flow. His foot just vanished with hardly
perceptible ripples flowing smoothly around his ankle. He instinctively pulled back, relieved to find he could and that he still had his foot. It was bone dry. Battery Boy turned around to look at the others. Stuff‘s face was contorted with terror. Jugger’s detached look made it clear, he thought it was Battery Boy’s turn to take the lead. Pinkie just looked angry. Battery Boy hesitated, staring at the barrier, looking for some clues as to what lay beyond, and what ‘up’ might mean.

  “What are you waiting for fatty?” Pinkie asked, “Can’t be worse than Worry.”

  She pushed Battery Boy aside, paused, took a deep breath and with her hands over her head stepped through and was gone. Shamed by her courage Battery Boy followed, chased by Stuff not wanting to be left behind. Jugger was no doubt happy to be last.

  Almost falling over each other Battery Boy found themselves in a pale windowless room with a single glass table. Sitting behind it was an old-boy, maybe Jugger’s age or a little older. Whatever his age, Battery Boy really only noticed one thing about him; he didn’t have a Band. What the voice had said about the Bands was true. They were free people, really free.

  “What happened to the boy, the one you got the bag from?” the old-boy asked without any particular emotion.

  Battery Boy hesitated, then decided to tell the truth, “I found him dead, looked like an animal got him.”

  “How did you find us, and raise the door?” the old-boy continued in the same calm manner.

  “There was a book, with a map and a key in the bag, we’re runaways,” Battery Boy answered.

  “You can read, that’s good. What about him? He had a school Band,” the old-boy asked nodding towards Jugger, who was still looking surprised that his Band was really gone.

  “Yeah, him as well. We’re all runaways, from school.”

  “Those outside schools are evil places, shouldn’t be allowed. Welcome. My name is Purple. Now, eat, sleep. Your new lives start tomorrow,” Purple said and then got up and turned to face the wall behind the desk.

  Battery Boy shuddered as it dilated, he did not like the familiarity; it was just like a Van door. There was also something odd about the way Purple spoke. It took Battery Boy a few moments to realise that he spoke through clenched teeth, never fully opening his mouth. Despite being called Purple his clothes were identical to Battery Boy’s, a one-piece baby blue boiler suit. Battery Boy turned and looked behind him. The oily-water door had gone; there was just a blank white wall. The only way out of the room was to follow Purple. Battery Boy stepped through the opening in the wall into another, narrow, white passage. It was almost identical to the one they had discovered at the foot of the stairs. At the far end was another shimmering oily waterfall. Lining the hallway at regular intervals were opaque glassy looking doors, similar to the transparent ones that had segmented the first passageway.

  “This is for the two young ones,” Purple indicated as the first panel slid up into the ceiling.

  Beyond the door was a comfortable looking windowless room with a bunk bed, desk and chairs. An opening at the back of the room half revealed a toilet and shower. Something Battery Boy hadn’t seen since his school days.

  “You two older boys will be directly opposite,” Purple signed as the panel slid up revealing a mirror image room.

  “Further along is a dining room, with food and drink set out. Eat, and then get some sleep, I’ll be back for you in eight hours.”

  He departed towards the waterfall, stepped through and disappeared.

  Pinkie and Stuff stood staring at Battery Boy and Jugger from their respective doorways, not quite trusting the rooms enough to fully step inside. Finally, Pinkie broke the impasse by pushing Stuff into the room and stepping out at the same time. As she moved back bumping into Battery Boy the panel closed, and then opened again as Stuff rushed at it in panic from the inside. His forward momentum and surprise at the door not being there to stop his charge tumbled him into the other three, pushing them all over sending them falling into the second room.

  Getting to their feet they all backed out into the corridor and moved away from both doors, which closed. Battery Boy decided the rooms were safe and moved further along the corridor to find the door to the dining room Purple had mentioned. The door swished open just as the others had. Inside was a table laden with an appetising selection of food and drink, more than he had seen in many years. His first reaction was to rush in and gorge himself; he was starving and thirstier than he thought possible. Before that he wanted to check the waterfall door. It had a slightly slippery, rubbery feel but was otherwise impenetrable. Looking back he wasn’t surprised their entrance to the corridor had vanished; there was just a blank white wall. They were comfortable prisoners.

  “There’s food here,” Battery Boy called to the others who’d hung back while he’d explored.

  The ‘food’ word sent them running towards the dining room door. For a good twenty minutes there was no talking, just the sound of chewing and gulping, at a furious rate.

  “So much food, more than in school, and no Bands, we’re in heaven,” Stuff squeezed out between a couple of loud burps before helping himself to another banana.

  “Maybe,” Jugger mused, fingering his naked neck, while he chewed on a ham at a more leisurely pace.

  “It all seems OK,” Battery Boy answered, though he knew what Jugger meant. Their schools had been comfortable too.

  “How can you be so fat and still eat so much?” Pinkie asked in disgust, her eyes hidden behind the sunglasses. She’d stopped eating and was sipping a raspberry coloured drink from a tall glass through a straw.

  “What’s your story?” Battery Boy asked Pinkie as he picked at his second roast chicken carcass.

  “Worry used to raid the schools, beyond the wastes, by the fence. He’d grab supplies and sometimes a couple of kids. Grabbed me, three or four years ago. Bastard,” Pinkie explained with obvious bitterness.

  “Why? What’s he want with kids?” Jugger asked.

  “Never mind. Don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Why didn’t you run? You’re young enough, school would’ve taken you back.” Stuff asked.

  For a long time Pinkie just stared at Stuff, her face passive but her fists tightly clenched, then she spoke through gritted teeth. “You stupid or something, I’d never get all the way to the light before he caught me.”

  “You kept your eyes,” Jugger said.

  “Used me on raids sometimes, to find the good stuff, all harnessed up. Not for much longer. He preferred the younger ones, they’re too scared to try anything. He was right, if he’d taken me out again I would’ve done something, no way was he taking me back.”

  When even Stuff couldn’t eat any more they left the dining room and headed for the bedrooms Purple had shown them. Inside the rooms the lighting had been dimmed.

  Jugger climbed onto the top bunk. Battery Boy lay down on the bottom bed and listened to Stuff and Pinkie arguing for a little while. Before long he could hear Stuff’s familiar snore, even through the two glass doors. His snoring couldn’t be bothering Pinkie or she would have surely suffocated the boy. She must be asleep as well. Just when Battery Boy thought he was the last one awake Jugger spoke.

  “No reason we can’t help each other but I don’t need you any more, Mr Boss. Just remember that.”

  Battery Boy didn’t answer. He didn’t need Jugger’s help and Jugger wouldn’t offer it if he knew Battery Boy had only started his journey. He still had to get inside the Block and find Tress. He turned on his side and tried to sleep. After fruitless attempts at finding a comfortable position Battery Boy ended up getting out of the bed and trying to sleep on the floor. It wasn’t any easier getting to sleep; his stomach was starting to complain. Beds, plenty to eat and being clean were things that would take getting used to again.

  Chapter 6 – Homecoming

  “They were flown up here before my time,” Anton said. “One way trips, for obsolete ships. Getting any of them working again is going to be a
big task, but it should be possible. Everything you need is here on the station.”

  To Mina, Anton’s revelation was as simple as it was wonderful; as many as four of the station’s outgrowths were old space freighters.

  “Bring the rest of my unit out of hibernation. We’re trained engineers and we have the supplies now. We’ll need everyone,” Grain added

  Mina’s was surprised, on two counts. It was the first time she had seen Grain show any sort of initiative. And, she’d completely forgotten that four more marines were still in deep sleep on the Small Business.

  “Right, good idea Lieutenant,” Cole answered with a smile.

  The military is going to show us how it should be done and soon there’ll be more of them than us civvies, Mina thought, and wondered if she should be worried. But engineers were what they needed now, if they were going to return to Earth.

  “We’ll aim to get one of the smaller, less complex transports operational for a scouting trip and then something bigger to ferry us all down, if it’s safe,” Cole added.

  “Safe? It’s never going to be safe. We have to find out what happened,” Mina responded, angry at Cole’s caution.

  “Mina, just, just, shut up. We all want to go home,” Cole answered, obviously exasperated.

  “Leave it to the Commander and the Lieutenant, I think they know what they’re doing,” Sara added, giving Grain a shy smile.

  Mina just grunted and rolled her eyes as Grain acknowledged Sara’s smile with a grin.

  “Thank you Sara,” Cole continued. “Anton tells me the health systems on the station are very sophisticated. Everyone needs to get checked out. We all need to be in top condition.”

  Days after being defrosted and despite the horror of their situation the whole of Grain’s team were working on Anton’s detailed engineering plans to rebuild the first freighter. To Mina’s surprise he seemed to have a real rapport with his men.