by Tara Basi
“What’s in the Yard?”
“Don’t know, just know it’s not good,” Black answered.
“How can you not know?” Mina insisted.
“I don’t even know what’s at level one or anything about the Heaven House. No one does. We’re just told, from really young, the Yard is very bad, going up a level and, maybe, reaching the Heaven House is really good,” Black answered.
“How old are you, how long you got left?” Jugger asked.
“I’m only eighteen, got nine months yet, might still go up a level,” Black answered, looking frightened again.
“If you don’t?” Jugger asked.
“Hit nineteen, then its straight to the Vat, I’m too old for the Yard,” Black answered, his head bowed.
“Vat?” Jugger asked.
“No idea, just as bad as the Yard though.”
“What’s the QQ, what exactly do you do?” Battery Boy asked.
“Babies,” Black answered.
Battery Boy wanted to scream. Jugger slumped to the floor. It was all the same, make enough babies, make them good enough and you live longer, nineteen here, eighteen in school. Battery Boy turned away from Black and rested his hands on the desk and stared at the clear surface, his vision moving in and out of focus, trying not to cry.
“What does he mean, babies?” Mina asked, looking around the room, her face twisted with a mixture of fear and horror.
“He only knows what we already know, and we know shit. Outside, in school, we had the babies’ thing,” Battery Boy answered without looking up, a note of despair in his voice.
“They’ve got spiders we had… Bands,” Stuff whispered.
Jugger looked up at Mina with emotionless eyes, “When your time was up a Van came to the school and took you in here. That was our Yard, going inside the Block. No one ever came back. Guess we just have to go see what’s in his Yard.”
“I don’t understand?” Mina almost wailed.
“Leave it, we don’t want to talk about this,” Battery Boy said and turned away from Mina, sat on the floor and tried to eat.
“Jugger, that’s your name, isn’t it? What’s going on?” Mina insisted.
“He’s looking for his friend, I’m looking for longer, you know, twenty would have been enough. Now, it doesn’t seem enough at all and I ain’t exchanging no Band for a spider. So he’s right, we don’t want to talk about it, especially to someone who ain’t gonna understand cause they’re already twenty four, maybe thirty, maybe a hundred. Lady, we go to the Yard, we get what we’re looking for or just kill as many of the fuckers as we can.”
“Where are the adults, what happened when the… Blocks came?” Mina asked, unwilling to give up her quest for some information that made sense.
“Blocks? There’s more than one?” Jugger half whispered to himself
“You’re the oldest person we’ve ever seen, if you don’t count Worry,” Stuff answered, shivering at the sound of Worry’s name.
“Who’s Worry?” Mina asked, getting more frustrated with every answer.
“Pray you never find out. I already told you, help me look for my friend, Tress, she has all the answers,” Battery Boy said, making it obvious the conversation was over.
“Fine, we’ll find my people then I’ll help you find Tress?” Mina conceded.
“Stuff, Pinkie, you want to go as well?” Mina asked the two youngsters.
“Fuck yeah, ain’t staying with no spider people, and remember, I want my own gun,” Pinkie answered.
“I go where he goes,” Stuff answered quietly, indicating Battery Boy.
“Seems it’s all settled. Mr Black, take us to the Yard,” Mina said.
Battery Boy was glad Mina hadn’t pressed them for answers, and it felt good to be moving on. Tress wasn’t here; she might be in the Yard. With Jugger’s help he dragged Black to his feet and nodded towards the wall. Black obliged and a door appeared, a waterfall one this time.
“The door will take you to the Yard, it’s not the normal way, maybe it’ll give you a chance, don’t really know, best I can do,” Black said.
“I guess it’s one way, right?” Jugger asked.
“No coming back, Yard doors are only one-way,” Black confirmed.
“Thanks Black, good luck with that extra year,” Battery Boy said, suddenly feeling very sorry for the old-boy.
Everyone grabbed a bag of food.
“Keep your spiders fat boy,” Pinkie spat at Black as she almost jumped through the door.
“Wait,” Mina wailed as the others quickly followed Pinkie, leaving her last to enter the Yard.
Battery Boy was used to unimaginably gigantic and inexplicable structures in the world, he had learned not to look too closely or stare for too long. You concentrated on the task at hand, kept your eyes down and got on with surviving. The other runaways understood this as well. Stuff whimpered but he kept his nerve. Mina didn’t, she looked up, screamed and fell to her knees sobbing uncontrollably.
Battery Boy knelt down and whispered into Mina’s ear, “Stuff’s shit scared all the time but he keeps going. Pinkie’s seen terrible things, terrible things been done to her, she’s not even nine. She copes, so can you. East’s that way. Let’s go.”
Chapter 8 – Soul Sale
Grain hit the hard glassy surface, rolled, and was up and running in one continuous motion. The helmet was cut wide open at the back and his air was pouring out, in seconds he would suffocate. His only thought was of surviving and the weird door, directly ahead, might be a way out.
Someone was shouting his name.
“Grain, stop, it’s OK, stop,” Sara screamed.
Grain was momentarily confused. He shouldn’t be able to hear anything. He slowed, stopped, sucked down a deep breath and blew it out raggedly. It felt so good. Turning, he saw Sara just a few paces behind him, holding her helmet in one hand and two kit bags in the other. Unlocking his own holding clips, he twisted and pulled off his helmet.
“Where’s Mina?”
“She’s right behind me. Oh, where’d she go?” Sara answered as she turned to look back.
Grain paused to get his breathing under control. Resting his hands on his knees he took a moment to look around. He was standing in a huge featureless space that looked about the same size as one of the oblong ships. A docking bay? So why didn’t it dock? Recovered, he walked back towards the shaft where he’d leapt from the top of the oblong, and looked over the edge. The shaft went on forever, it looked empty, the oblong had disappeared. There were lights and shadows all the way down suggesting many more docking bays, at regular intervals.
“What happened to Mina?” Sara asked, she was standing next to Grain gingerly peering over the edge.
“Tried your radio?” Grain suggested, turning towards Sara. The electronics in his own suit were completely destroyed.
“Nothing. She could be out of range,” Sara answered, without much conviction.
“Thank god you’re OK,” Sara continued, looking genuinely relieved.
“I’m fine, are you OK?” Grain asked.
“Yes, shall we check out that door thing,” Sara answered with a shy smile.
She didn’t seem that cut up about Mina. He took his kit bag from Sara, turned away from the shaft and together they walked towards the door shape. It seemed to be made of a strange shimmering, watery-green liquid. The rest of the wall, and everything else he could see was just as grey and unblemished as the outside of the monolith. The light source was everywhere and nowhere. At the wet door they stopped and stared at the rippling surface. Grain turned back, picked up his ruined helmet, returned and pressed it against the door. It might look rubbery but it seemed as solid as metre thick quartz. There was no give at all. Grain savagely smashed his helmet against the door, momentarily startling Sara. The door was unmarked, the helmet was badly dented.
“There has to be a way through, search for a control,” Grain ordered.
Sara went left and Grain went right. But it made
no difference, just as they had pointlessly explored the topside of the monolith, Grain and Sara returned to the door equally empty handed.
“Who the hell are you?” a squeaky, questioning voice demanded.
Startled, Grain spun around looking for the source, but the bay was completely empty. He turned to Sara, who shrugged a don’t-ask-me.
“Never mind, get inside,” the unseen speaker added.
Grain turned towards Sara and raised one questioning eyebrow. Sara nodded, and with one hand pushed against the door. It disappeared as though the hard surface had become a liquid. Sara snatched her hand back. Grain was happy to let Sara take the lead. He made a gallant gesture to indicate she should go first. Sara smiled and with her hands in front of her stepped through the door and disappeared. Grain hesitated for a moment then followed her.
Grain found himself in a featureless white room, empty except for Sara and himself. His senses hummed in warning as a wave of cold blackness flowed up his limbs. Sara slowly began to crumple; she was unconscious before she hit the ground. Grain forced his freezing body to turn and escape through the strange door. It had gone, there was only a wall. His eyes, and then his mind, switched off.
Consciousness returned, as if no time at all had passed. He was stretched out on his side, lying on a hard, featureless, dark grey floor. He felt seriously hung-over, his head was throbbing painfully, the light hurt his eyes, his stomach churned. Slowly, he rolled on to his belly, and got to his hands and knees. Shaking his head to try and get his eyes and mind working together, he started to look around. Slumped in the corner of the room was a strange figure. He, or she, had their back to the wall, head slumped forward, arms and open hands dangling lifelessly at their side. His strange companion was bald and clothed in a childish pink boiler suit. The strangest thing about the unconscious figure was the single black earring pinned to their right ear lobe. It was the size and thickness of a casino chip. It looked more like something you’d tag a cow with than a piece of jewellery. Grain caught sight of his own arms, clothed in blue. Getting to his knees he looked down and saw he was wearing the same kind of boiler suit. His hands immediately went to his head; he was bald. Reluctantly his fingers traced his right ear and, shockingly, found the same size and shape earring pink-suit was wearing. Grain frantically searched for a clasp. There was none, but neither could he pull it away, it seemed fused to his skin. Pulling at the earring sent a sickening pain shooting through his head, as though a needle was puncturing his eardrum. Grudgingly he stopped trying to remove whatever it was.
Looking back towards the figure in the corner Grain realised that pink-suit must be Sara. He crawled across the floor and took her by the shoulders, her head lolled back. It was obviously Sara, even though she had no hair left at all, her eyebrows and lashes had gone as well. Strangely, it actually made her look slightly attractive.
“Sara?” Grain whispered.
“Wh…,” Sara mumbled, still half asleep.
Grain grabbed her around the waist and, slowly, they both climbed unsteadily to their feet.
“Whersh,” Sara asked, slowly coming out of whatever had knocked them both out.
“We were drugged, gassed probably. We’re in a… box, no exits,” Grain answered. A box was the only way he could describe the room they were in. It was uniformly dark grey, featureless, well lit but there were no windows or doors, just bare walls.
“Shooow?” Sara asked, her speech slurred not quite fully awake, only standing because she was hanging on to Grain.
Grain was about to say he had no clue when a possible answer presented itself. A door just appeared in the wall directly ahead of them and a strange young woman stepped in to the room. The girl could be of any age between sixteen and twenty-something. She had terrible acne, long black hair that clung to her head like an oil slick. Close set, darting eyes that flitted between him and Sara but mostly came to rest on him, making Grain feel uncomfortable. A feeling he was not used to when it came to women. Her nose was a little too thin and long to be attractive. The girl-woman chewed on the fat lower lip of her trout mouth revealing a crooked line of stained teeth. She was wearing the same pink boiler suit as Sara, but it was covered in badges, as though she was some overachieving girl scout. No earring though.
“Where’s the rest of the crew?” the stranger demanded, looking nervous and angry as she resumed chewing her lower lip.
Grain hesitated. Sara still seemed to be out of it. “And you are?” Grain asked, with a wide smile.
The smile froze on his face as something unseen grabbed his testicles and crushed them. The unexpected assault sent fishhooks of pain through his pupils. As his invisible assailant yanked the fishhooks back out through his eyes, Grain collapsed in a groaning heap. Through tears of pain he could just make out the supposedly half-unconscious Sara poised to leap for the girl’s throat, fingers curled into claws. She abruptly froze in that position, crouched, ready to spring, arms outstretched.
“Stupid people,” the girl said, then turned and vanished through a door that appeared and then disappeared.
Sara was unfrozen as she left, falling forward into an untidy sprawl across the floor, shaking in agony. Grain still lay where he fell, gently cupping his genitals with both hands, knees pulled tightly to his chest, moaning softly while he slowly tried rocking the pain away. Abruptly the pain was gone, all of it, as though nothing had happened. Grain couldn’t quite believe it. He rolled gingerly away, with his back to Sara, opened his clothing and examined his genitals. Not a mark, not even tender to touch. Turning back he could see the same thing had happened to Sara, who was getting to her feet.
Grain jumped up and ran at the wall where the door had appeared and hit it hard with his shoulder. He bounced off the solid wall and stood rubbing his arm, still trying to understand what was happening.
“What did she do to us?” Grain asked, his mind still flinching from just the memory of the debilitating pain.
“These must have something to do with it?” Sara answered, fingering her earring, looking sick.
“It won’t come off, I’ve tried. I thought you were out of it?” Grain said, as he saw Sara pulling at the earring and flinch in pain.
“Sorry, started faking it as soon as she appeared. Thought it best. She didn’t look like an alien,” Sara said, reluctantly leaving the earring alone.
“She’s just some kid,” Grain said, still surprised Sara had been faking. He had no idea, she was one tough brave woman.
“Good you didn’t tell her anything,” Sara said, and smiled.
Grain, didn’t answer and just slumped down on the floor. He knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the pain, next time he’d tell the girl whatever she wanted to know. Besides, he needed help. There was none on the Maxinquaye. The medical machine on the space station didn’t even have much of a bed side manner, just pain killers. His only chance of living beyond the next few months was finding better medical facilities and there was always a chance the girl might know where he could get help.
“I won’t let that bitch hurt you again,” Sara whispered, as she joined him on the floor and rested her head on his shoulder.
“It’ll be OK,” Grain answered, surprised by the determination in Sara’s voice.
Unannounced, a drab older woman stepped through a door that appeared and then vanished behind her. Grain was immediately on his feet. Sara was up just as quickly.
“I’m here to teach you,” the woman said in a dull monotone, her eyes fixed on her own feet.
She was dressed in the same unflattering outfit as Sara, her face was lifeless, weary, with sunken cheeks and cropped black hair. A shroud of utter exhaustion hung over her, the woman was tired to the bone. Grain immediately noticed her earring; it was identical to theirs. She didn’t have any badges.
“What’s your name?” Grain asked brightly, hoping to engage the sad woman and perhaps persuade her to help them.
“Just listen,” the woman coldly replied.
“We’ll c
all you Happy then. I’m Sara, he’s Grain, we could help you, if we work together,” Sara said, following Grain’s lead.
“Tracy’s Block Boss. The earring won’t allow lying, violence or disobedience. When you’re with Tracy you should only speak when asked to,” Happy said, her dead eyes fixed on the floor.
“Who is Tracy, where did she come from?” Sara asked.
“She likes talking, I don’t. Do you understand what I’ve said? Tracy wants you calm and obedient not rolling around the floor in agony. If you two mess up, you’ll be going straight to the Vat,” Happy answered calmly as she looked up from the floor for the first time. Her dead brown eyes betrayed only the slightest flicker of emotion.
“Vat? What’s that?” Grain asked, thinking it didn’t sound a good place to be going.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Happy answered.
“Can you tell us what the Block is?” Sara pressed.
“You’re in it. Remember, don’t fight the earring,” Happy answered,
“How many people are in this, Block?” Sara asked
Happy didn’t answer, she turned and left, leaving an unyielding blank wall behind her.
“The monolith is the Block,” Sara said.
“And she runs the whole thing, one person?” Grain said, shaking his head.
“Maybe, maybe not. We’ve got to get out of here, warn the others,” Sara said and then gestured to Grain to come closer. She started whispering in his left ear, “Tracy can’t read our thoughts or she’d already have her answers. These earrings probably sense raw emotions and that’s how she knows we’re lying or about to attack. If we stay calm we might be able to fool these things.”
“You try staying calm with your balls in a mincer,” Grain hissed.
“It’ll be easier to control our emotions if we tell her the truth, but we can be selective, stick to narrow specific answers and be pessimistic about the others,” Sara suggested, keeping her voice as low as possible.
