Awaken

by Linda Harley

  They all settled down and drifted off to sleep.

  ***

  “Wake up you sluggards,” Findley said, splashing a cold bucket of seawater all over them. “Time to get to work.”

  Anna moaned. “What now?”

  “You’ll work for your food, or you’ll starve. Your choice.” Findley said, before heading up the ladder.

  Anna stood and stretched. “Come on then, let’s see what he’s about,” she said following after Findley.

  The next few days they spent scrubbing the deck, washing and mending the sails, peeling potatoes, tanning hides, dragging in the fishnets, dumping out the rotten produce, washing clothes, and many more countless mundane tasks. Each night Findley would lock them back in the hold with a loaf of bread that Ekiny had baked, and a flask of ale for each.

  Anna didn’t like the taste of the ale, but it was better than not having anything to drink at all. Frankly, they were too tired at the end of each day, to talk about their situation, or about escape. As soon as they had eaten, they would drift off to sleep, just to repeat the same routine the next morning.

  On the fourth morning, Anna awoke, when Ekiny shrieked, “Breakfast!”

  “Huh?” Anna sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t you smell that?” Ekiny said, sniffing the air.

  “Smell what?” Radnt asked with a disapproving grunt.

  “Eggs, bacon, orange juice, and fresh bread,” Ekiny said almost drooling.

  “She’s gone mad,” Radnt declared.

  “No, I’m telling you, it’s close.” Ekiny stood excited.

  “I don’t smell anything,” Trald observed.

  “Besides, they probably won’t give us any,” Olavi spat. The chains that held the barrels in place all started to rattle as his stomach growled.

  The rocking of the ship became quiet as the engines died down. Shouting voices drifted down to them from above deck. The planks over the hatch opening was lifted, and bright morning sunlight shone down on them.

  “Come along then,” Kip ordered his gun out and at the ready.

  Findley had the rope ready, and as they each reached the deck, he bound their hands together and added each one to the lead rein. Armed guards stood waiting for them, two for each child. The guards carried an assortment of guns, swords, and bows.

  “Where are you taking us?” Anna demanded as Kip grabbed her elbow and led her down the gangplank onto the docks. Beyond the docks lay a vibrant city, full of people milling about. Several other ships were in various stages of being loaded and unloaded, the dock hands working furiously at their tasks.

  “You are off to see Master Hogarth, so he can decide what is to be done with you,” Kip said, grinning at her. “Slave or bot. I wonder what it will be.”

  Anna knew of only one Hogarth, the one that had figured out a way to transfer a person’s mind into a bot. She did not want to be a slave, but she wanted to be a bot even less.

  The guards wasted no time and swiftly loaded them all up into the motorized carriage. Anna ended up close to a window and peered through it as they rode. Large buildings loomed overhead, and people were milling about everywhere. They passed several restaurants where breakfast was indeed being served. Anna pointed it out to Ekiny, who smiled ear to ear when she saw the food. They passed several fountains, many shops, and grand estates, and finally passed through a thick wall.

  The door to their carriage opened, and they spilled out into the outer bailey of the castle. Before them stood a large 3 story keep, with guards stationed on the battlements. A double 6-foot door stood open, and before Anna could have a look around, the guards escorted them in onto the marble floors.

  They passed through the entryway into the inner bailey, turned right, and ascended a set of stairs to the second floor. Then through another double door and into a large room, that had rows of tables with seating, and on the far wall was a dais with a throne upon it.

  “This place makes me itch,” Iona said as they entered the throne room.

  Tapestries hung from all the walls depicting scenes of battle between bots and humans. On the dais sat a pristine looking man, dressed in a pressed suit, with perfectly combed hair. It took Anna a moment to realize what was off about the keep. Electricity. Lights hung from the ceiling, and a computer stood on the dais next to the man. They had power, which meant they must have a power source, and hopefully, it was trisidiumpac.

  “Now, what do we have here?” the sleazy man stood and walked down the steps of the dais to the group of children that were lined up before the throne.

  “A tribute, Master Hogarth,” Kip said.

  Hogarth eyed Kip and said. “I see.” As Hogarth neared them, Miina hid behind her brother. Noticing the movement, Hogarth zeroed in on Miina.

  “Boo!” Hogarth shouted as he faked leapt at Miina, his arms raised in the air over his head.

  Miina screamed, and then things started flying across the room. The tables shot into the air and began to swirl all about them.

  Anna ducked as the throne whizzed by her head. She scanned to see if everyone was all right. Miina stood in the center, crying, eyes shut against the disaster that was taking place around them.

  Trald walked towards the computer that had escaped the chaos. He was oblivious of the danger that surrounded him. He reached out and touched the computer before he collapsed onto the floor.

  Anna had no idea what was happening, but she suspected their mutant gifts might be starting to make its appearance. However, before she could use the distraction to her advantage, Hogarth shouted, “Seize them!”

  Guards swarmed around them, and all hopes of escape evaporated. The guards picked up each child and wrapped them up in bulging arms. It took two men to restrain Radnt. Trald lay comatose, while the others struggled against their captors.

  The chaos in the room continued to build. “Put the freaks with the slaves and then straighten the room. I will need to experiment on them before deciding their fate.”

  Chapter 14

  Anna pulled the scrappy blue messenger tunic over her head, strapped on her leather belt, grabbed her hat off the hook by the door and plonked it on her head. Gulping down some water, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and ran out of her bedroom. She had been assigned the top room of the northwest tower of the keep because she did not mind climbing all the stairs. Hogarth had assigned them all quarters, and as long as they performed their duties to the satisfaction of their masters, they were fed and clothed. They had not had much choice in the matter, but Anna supposed it could have been far worse.

  Initially Hogarth had questioned her on where they had come from, but remembering her promise to Nick, she had kept with the lie that they were run a ways. Hogarth had seemed satisfied by her explanation, and not given it any more consideration. There were a lot of refugees and orphans in the city of Pearl. Why? Anna still had not figured that out.

  Two weeks had passed since Anna had awoken from cryo, and she was excited to still be alive. She had not died from the McKlendle virus and was growing stronger every day, in part thanks to Hogarth’s provisions. Anna knocked and entered her benefactor’s inner sanctum.

  “You’re, late,” Hogarth said as he stretched out like a cat by the window of his private office.

  Anna glanced at the watch Nick had given her, a pang of sadness flittering across her heart. “Only by 10 seconds.”

  “Fetch me some grapes from the kitchen and come straight back. Don’t you dare run around the entire day again, with errands for everyone except me.” Hogarth ordered not even looking up from the book he was reading. “There is still much that we need to discuss.”

  Anna hastily gave the obligatory curtsey and ran for the kitchen. Out the office doors, down the nearest flight of stairs, across the inner bailey, and straight into the kitchens located on the first floor. As Anna raced into the kitchen, where she nearly collided with Ekiny, almost spilling a platter of cheese-filled Danish cakes.

 
“Careful. It took me an hour to perfect these,” Ekiny said, successfully placing the tray on a nearby table, without a single spill.

  “The master wants grapes,” Anna blurted out while staring longingly at the Danish.

  “Not again,” Cook Nancy wheeled up to them on her rollerball. “He knows his system can’t digest it. He’s a bot.”

  Anna shrugged. “I’m not going to remind him.”

  “These experiments to be human drives me nuttier than a nut, and I don’t mind telling you.”

  Anna had learned that a nut, was a bot that had no human memories and thus was either blank or operated on a specific set of programming. None of the bots liked to be called a nut, as that was an insult to them.

  Cook Nancy picked up Ekiny’s tray and scanned the Danish with her bot eyes. “These are perfect, Ekiny. That settles it. You will be my apprentice until Maxy returns.”

  Ekiny grinned from ear to ear. She wrapped her arms around Nancy.

  “Don’t get too excited. Go pick me some fennel. I’ll need it for lunch. The people around here still need to eat.”

  “Anna, please go to the infirmary and check on Maxy for me. The poor girl has had a rough time.”

  “But Hogarth said –”

  “Leave the old coot to me. Here, take one for you and one for Maxy,” Nancy said, handing her a Danish for each hand. “Now scoot. I’ve got some cooking to do.”

  Anna inhaled the Danish and darted off to the infirmary. Out of the kitchen, through the inner bailey, through the entrance hall and out of the keep, she jogged sidestepping anyone that appeared in her path. Once she reached the outer bailey, she picked up speed and dashed for the castle gates, waved to the guards as she passed, and then took a sharp right turn. Cutting across the lawn she passed by the clock tower, and soon reached the medical district, and made for the first large building that was one large floor filled with rows upon rows of beds.

  She scanned the large room and found Iona standing next to Physician Blaise, taking copious notes as they moved from patient to patient. Anna hurried over to them, eager to be gone from the smell of rotting skin.

  “Give Maxy some of the peppermint oil. It should help ease the pain of the mouth sores,” Blaise said, finishing up his examination.

  “Will I live?” Maxy asked before she leaned over the side of the cot and vomited into a bucket that had been strategically placed there.

  Blaise swiftly sidestepped. “Too soon to tell my dear. Now that the fever and nausea are subsiding, the mouth sores will last 4 more days. You must try to eat some of the broth to keep up your strength. Then the rash will spread to your skin, and that will take about 2 weeks to heal. If you rest and do as you’re told you have a 30% chance of living. You’re young and strong, so I wouldn’t worry too much. The children and old suffer the most.”

  Blaise was about to move to the next patient when he spotted Anna, dancing from one foot to the other. “I hope that’s not for Maxy. She won’t be able to tolerate it.”

  Anna’s shoulders slumped. She liked Maxy. Not knowing what to do, she thrust the Danish at Iona.

  “I don’t like sweets,” Iona protested as she took the Danish with gloved fingers. Every part of her body was covered with cloth. But even that didn’t stop her from scratching herself, Anna supposed out of nervousness of working with so many sick people with the skin disease.

  “Any further findings on whether it is the McKlendle virus that is making these people sick?” Anna asked.

  “As I’ve told you, child, I think not. The McKlendle virus has been extinct for many years. This is something new. Something we do not have a cure for.” Blaise said. “Now, please deliver this message to security.” Blaise reached into a pocket, withdrew a folded note and held it out to her.”

  Anna hesitated to take it.

  “Oh, do hurry up. You will be safe. This disease only spreads from direct contact with the bodily fluid of an infected person.”

  Anna grabbed the note and ran for the door. Out the building, back the way she had come, through the castle gate, back into the keep, through the bailey, down one flight of stairs to the basement that opened up into the large Jailer’s office. Off to one side, right underneath the kitchen was a large room where the bots that worked in the castle went to charge every night. Jail cells lined the walls of the basement, so that no matter where you stood in the Jailer’s office, you had a clear view of what was happening in the cell.

  Trald sat behind a bank of monitors in the center of the Jailer’s office, observing a series of cameras placed throughout the castle, and even some around town.

  “Here’s a note from Blaise,” Anna sanding handing Trald the note.

  Trald tossed the note into the wastebasket. “Pull up a chair.”

  “Don’t you need to show that to your supervisor?”

  “Nah, it’s just a list of items the doc claims have gone missing since yesterday. Same list every day. A bug in his system. Besides, the chief has his hands full in the armory,” Trald said, pointing at one of the screens.

  Miina sat in the middle of the room polishing boots, through a fit of tears. Boots, belts, guns, knives, blankets, and a host of other sharp objects all flew around her like a tornado. The chief stood at the door looking on, clearly not knowing what to do.

  “I better go fetch Olavi before someone gets hurt,” Anna said, rushing for the stairs.

  “Wait!” Trald yelled.

  “What?” Anna asked, poking her head back into the room.

  “Two trisidiumpacs gets delivered once a month. The next shipment is tonight,” Trald said excitedly. “We could grab it and go home.”

  “Excellent work,” Anna said, “but that will have to wait. First, we need to rescue Miina.” Without another word, Anna dashed off again, up the steps, through the inner bailey and the entryway back out of the keep into the outer bailey. She stood for a moment considering the fastest route to the smithy where Olavi worked. Then she sped off.

  Anna raced through the castle gates, took a sharp turn to the left and raced through the high-end neighborhood of elite mansions. There was less traffic on these back streets, so she could run fast, but not at what she felt was her top speed. She passed by the money fountain, that stood between the bank on her left and the banker's house on the right, then two more houses on the left before she reached the crafter's district. There she hung a sharp left, went up two blocks, then turned right, and down three blocks to the next well. The smithy’s workshop was on the left closest to the wall. Not a lot of people wanted to have their workshop next to a smithy because of the insatiable heat. So all the smithy’s could be found on Smith row which abutted the town wall. The warehouse across the street had burnt down, a week before around the time they had heard the explosion from Pearl. Smithing was dangerous work.

  Anna found Olavi half asleep on a stool next to the billows, lazily stoking the fire while Blacksmith Shane drew out some iron.

  “Wake up!” Anna shouted, taking the bucket of cooling water and dumping it over Olavi’s head.

  “Hey!” Olavi spattered as he came fully awake.

  “Miina’s in danger. She’s in the armory. You need to go calm her down.”

  At the word Miina, Olavi jumped into action. He pulled off his smithy apron and ran for the door shouting thanks to her and apologizing to Shane as he went.

  Anna was about to leave when a large burly hand clamped down on her shoulder. “Not so fast. Go fetch me some wood.”

  “But –”

  “It’s that or the billows,” Shane said nodding at the spot Olavi had now left vacant.

  Anna picked up the wood basket by the door and retraced her steps back to the keep. This time, instead of heading into the keep, she turned left and passed the barracks and armory. Anna poked her head into the armory and found that Olavi had succeeded in calming Miina down, and they were now both getting reprimanded by the Chief about the importance of safety. Sighing with relief, Anna got back to her tasks. She passed t
he bathhouse, and stables, and finally reached the back keep gate that led to the forests. Anna stepped through the open postern gate and breathed in the smell of freshly chopped wood.

  Radnt stood shirtless, muscles bulging, sweat gleaming off his back, chopping wood from the trees that had been recently felled. Already half of the daily pile of wood had been chopped up. Anna tiptoed up to the woodpile, trying not to disturb Radnt.

  “Hey! What do you want?” Radnt asked in a gruff manner, stopping momentarily to lean on his ax.

  Anna froze, and then straightened her back. “Just here to fetch wood for Shane,” Anna said as she quickly filled her basket.

  “Remember to write down how much you’re taking this time, or it will be my hide again,” Radnt said, as he picked up the ax and started swinging.

  Anna found the notebook next to the pile and hastily scribbled in the number of logs she had placed in the basket. Then she bolted. Radnt always caused a shiver to run down her spine. She did not like the way he made her feel. She had never felt that way before about anyone, and so had nothing even to base it on. She knew she just didn’t like him, and that was enough reason to stay far away.

  “Here you go,” Anna said, dropping the wood next to Shane’s forge.

  “Great, I’ll need another batch in about 2 hours. Take these to the stable,” Shane said shoving four horseshoes into her hands. “Be quick about it. They need this for the new foal they’re breaking in today.”

  Hogarth was going to pitch a fit because she was gone so long, again. This happened to her every day, and every night, she got a lecture about how she was his slave, and not everyone’s errand girl. She promised herself; she would return to her station as soon as this delivery was done. Then she would figure out a way to steal the trisidiumpac tonight, and get everyone back to the Cryoplex by tomorrow. There was no way; she was spending an extra month around here.

  “Fine, but later you need to teach me how to make a knife.”

  Shane laughed and returned to his work. Anna didn’t know if that was a yes but guessed it was a no. Worth a try at least. If she had a weapon, she would at least have a way of protecting herself.