by Tara Basi
“How’s it ever going to work? That many people?” Stuff asked.
“Well, one idea is, maybe, we get a few thousand out first. Train them and then we’ll split up into groups. Say, five hundred people in each and they’ll go and set up a new base, close to a Block. Maybe twelve more rescue centres up and running within a year, which could take a million. And so on,” Mina explained, and smiled weakly at Stuff who appeared to be concentrating hard, working on the maths. “Wow, ten years, they’d all be out?” Stuff asked surprised at how the calculation had worked out.
Trinity cheerfully suggested otherwise, “A couple of hundred, is more likely. The more that we get out the more resources and time will need to be spent keeping them alive and building a functioning society. Too many refuges, too soon and it’ll all collapse into savagery and chaos.”
“It’ll be somewhere in between, and we have to start somewhere. Remember, better dead than Blocked. With Mina’s help, we’ll save them all,” Tress said, smiling at Mina who blushed and started to tear up.
“You’ll need bosses, for the new centres, to keep order, make sure things happen. I volunteer,” Jugger announced, and Pinkie nodded vigorously in support. It was obviously not a question
“Anton, what do you think?” Battery Boy asked the screen showing the ancient man up in the Maxinquaye, wanting to change the subject before Mina and Jugger started arguing.
“It’s amazing, you beat the Blocks. Party tonight, worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. I’ll be joining you from up here, going to find me a really old bottle of something,” Anton said, smiling broadly.
Later that night Battery Boy sat on the grass and stared up at the stars, occasionally obscured by billows of smoke and clouds of sparks from the camp fire. Stuff was happily roasting a couple of rabbits and humming some tune. Battery Boy had left the others celebrating Tippese’s news of their victory and come up to the park to just sit and quietly take everything in. So much had happened.
Battery Boy got a few minutes of quiet before Stuff arrived. The little boy looked so happy he didn’t have the heart to send him away, and he’d brought the rabbits and a bag of other goodies.
“It’s like the old days,” Stuff said. “Us, you know, alone, out in the wilds.”
“You miss that? The cold, starving, running scared all the time?” Battery Boy asked, surprised by Stuff’s observation.
“No, stupid. It’s just, we were on our own.”
“Get used to it; the billions are coming, remember?”
“Yeah. We’ll still be like this though, right? Sometimes? Just you and me?”
“Sure.”
For a while the two boys didn’t say anything, just sat and listened to the night sounds, the crackling of the fire, and waited for the rabbits to finish roasting.
“You did it,” Stuff unexpectedly said, startling Battery Boy.
“It?”
“I’m going to find you Tress, get you out and smash the Block,” Stuff answered, trying to imitate Battery Boy’s deeper angry voice, repeating the oath Battery Boy had whispered every morning when they’d fought for survival in the Block wastes.
“Block ain’t smashed yet,” Battery Boy answered and smiled broadly.
The End
