“They could at least have given us until morning,” Opna muttered.
“What? And spoil all the fun?” F’Thr replied.
Nuri eyed the two grim-faced facilitators tailing them. It wasn’t what she’d exactly call a police escort, but it came pretty damned close.
“Um, I’d hate to break it to you guys,” she said, “but I don’t think they’re treating this as a joke.”
“Lighten up,” F’Thr scoffed. “What could they possibly do to us?”
“Kick us out?” Nuri ventured.
“What? And lose all the money our patrons have shelled out for our upkeep? They need us to keep this facility going as much as we need them to, hah, offer us guidance in preparation of the emergence.”
That was all very well, but what would Fadhil have to say on the matter? Would he be disappointed that she’d been distracted, gotten caught up in pranks when she should have been seizing this opportunity to better herself?
The administration block looked a completely different place late at night. With the strip lights dimmed, the passage down which they were guided was a throat, slowly swallowing them.
What punishment awaited her? Was it enough that she was sorry? That she would apologise to the Nasty Girls? Ancestors! Apart from Stasja, she didn’t even know their names.
The facilitator who awaited them was the wrinkly Heran Katha. He was sitting bundled in a voluminous fleece-lined, bulky red jacket that made his bulbous head look ridiculous. His AR lenses were flipped up, and judging by the way he stifled a yawn behind one long-fingered hand, he’d been yanked out of bed for this interview.
Or interrogation.
Nuri tried to hide her grimace as she and her friends were made to sit down in the three chairs already positioned before Katha’s desk.
He leant forward, staring intently at Opna, who was on Nuri’s left.
“Well, why does this not surprise me?”
Opna made a grumbling noise at the back of his throat. “It was nothing but some harmless fun, Facilitator.”
F’Thr tried to suppress a gurgle of amusement, but failed, and Katha’s glare shifted to the J’Veth.
“And you! I told your matriarch I felt juveniles under fifty were a bad idea, despite their obvious talent. Third time now. You know what that means.”
“To be quite honest, expulsion is fine, Facilitator,” F’Thr said.
Katha made a disgusted noise and fell back in his chair. “You are incorrigible. If I expel you, I give you what you want. Yet if I don’t, I fail to set an example.” His narrow mouth opened into a gape while he sucked in a breath, and his nasal slits opened and shut in agitation. Then he turned to Nuri. “You, I can forgive. This time. Because you don’t know any better. These two” – he gestured at her friends – “seem to delight in causing as much havoc as possible, without realising that at some stage there will be dire consequences.”
Shame heated Nuri’s face, but she couldn’t break eye contact with the Heran. Something about those large, liquid-dark eyes held her fast. Then she blinked, rapidly, and focused instead on her hands clasped loosely in her lap. Herans were known for having strong psi talents; she had to be careful.
“I should not have to police you, Nuri, of all people,” Katha said. “You’re almost an adult, and you’re in a situation that requires adult behaviour.”
Her shame crawled right into her hairline. “I apologise, Facilitator.”
He made a sound that may have been one of agreement, but she didn’t look up.
She hated disappointing others, hated that she was unable to snark back at authority figures the way F’Thr and Opna had no problem doing. She hated being in trouble.
“Last month it was hiding the entire of squad 404’s clothing in the composter. And then the incident involving laxatives in Facilitator Brannis’s hot beverages. I get that you find it vastly amusing to lash out at people who’ve annoyed you in some shape or form, but this has gone too far. I will not have you dragging Nuri into this mess now too.”
“But, Facilitator –” F’Thr started.
Nuri had an inkling of what he was about to do, and she pinched him hard, and glared at him. Don’t tell him about the bullying, she willed at him, praying that he heard her.
His eyes widened and he retracted all six of his facial tentacles into a tight ball until he exhaled.
Katha turned to Nuri. “Is there something you want to tell me, Nuri?”
She could tell him, but there’d be fallout. She’d seen it happen at the Den, so many times. These things never ended well for the rats. Ever. They might get the Nasty Girls in trouble for bullying, but they’d just find other ways to strike back at Nuri and her friends.
Nuri shook her head. “No, Facilitator.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Facilitator.”
A horrible silence descended on the office, except for the jiggling of Opna’s chair. His leg was shaking with the tension.
“You three do realise that Vella Shonfeld is allergic to the secretions of certain Areadian invertebrates?”
Nuri didn’t have to look up to know that both F’Thr and Opna were shaking their heads vigorously.
“It was only thanks to the quick thinking of her squad mates that they were able to contain the vermin. As it stands, she will have to spend the night in the clinic, after being treated for respiratory distress.”
Nuri wished she could squirm her way all the way through the floor. If she glanced up, she’d be trapped.
Opna hissed out a long sigh. “Sorry, Facilitator.”
F’Thr shifted in his seat, gave a small groan and then said, “I am really sorry, most esteemed Facilitator.” He did sound contrite, even if he was still trying to express a flash of attitude. The bit of skin on his hand that she could see had gone dark with stress. J’Veth were almost incapable of hiding their emotions.
“Right!” Katha slapped the surface of his desk so hard, all three of them jerked in their seats. When Nuri dared to meet his gaze, his mouth was twisted in a wry smile. “Now for how you’ll put this to rights.”
Opna groaned. “I should never have …” The rest of what he said was lost in a mumble.
“Not only will you be cleaning the room your childish prank fouled, but you’ll be on duty to clean all the dorm bathrooms. For a week.”
“What?” Nuri choked out. Bathroom duty here? Really?
“Suspension would be better than that,” F’Thr said, looking pleadingly at Nuri, as if begging her to say something to improve their predicament.
“I know,” came Katha’s reply, which was accompanied by a satisfied, sly grin.
* * *
They ended up cleaning the Nasty Girls’ dorm room until dawn, using the old-fashioned method involving buckets, mops, cloths and assorted biochemical sprays that clung to Nuri’s hair, sinuses and skin despite the protective gear they wore.
In hindsight, F’Thr’s prank was horrible. Not only did all the inhabitants of the dorm room have to have all their clothing washed, but all their other possessions either had to be disinfected or incinerated – swamp-jiggers, once unleashed, violently excreted a foul mucous that reacted with the air and turned into a gas that settled on everything.
“This was a really bad idea,” Nuri said for the umpteenth time.
Opna paused in his scrubbing. “They could’ve used bots to do this job, and it’d be done in ten minutes instead of five hundred years. How could I have known they’d make us do the scrubbing?”
“You were counting on getting expelled,” F’Thr said.
“I thought you were just as sick of this place as I am,” said Opna.
“My clan matriarch would eviscerate me if I got kicked out.”
“Then maybe you should’ve thought twice about instigating this whole thing in the first place,” Opna shot back. “This isn’t just ‘harmless fun’ anymore, is it?”
Nuri sat back on her haunches and regarded her companions. “You mean neither of you a
ctually want to be here at the facility?”
“No!” they answered in unison.
“I was hoping to put an end to it,” F’Thr said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the fact that I’m allegedly the only one my family can spare.”
“Likewise,” Opna grumped. “I’m not considered ‘suitable breeding stock’ until I’m at least eighty, so I might as well do something useful for the clan. Especially since I’m the one who somehow got lumped with enough psi to qualify for this programme. My family is more interested in the prestige of me being here. They’re under no illusions that I’ll actually succeed. And that goes for the majority of the folks here. It’s all a game.”
“At least,” Nuri said, “at least you have a family to worry about you.” Vadith was most likely only worrying about his loss of income thanks to her absence. Nuri had to bite back a barbed comment about privilege.
“But you have a patron,” Opna said. “You wouldn’t be here, otherwise.”
“Yeah, but …” How much could she say? She clamped her lips together. “It’s complicated.”
“What are you … really? I’m not really buying the Merchanter or Military brat-thing.”
Her pulse raced as she realised she didn’t want anyone to know more than they should about Fadhil, and most certainly not about her time as a runner. She was nothing, a nobody, and so far she’d managed to remain an enigma.
F’Thr spoke. “It’s all right. You don’t have to say. But you do have something to do with the night we were all under lock-down, don’t you? I heard stories that someone was called. And then you showed up.”
She nodded. That much she could do.
“I knew it!” Opna crowed.
“It’s not exactly a state secret,” F’Thr returned.
“Rumour, though,” Opna added. “And the facilitators neither confirmed nor denied it.”
“Let’s not discuss it any further, okay?” Nuri added.
They finished up, then went to clean themselves as best they could, and were only five minutes late for breakfast. Heads turned as they trooped into the canteen, accompanied by nervous giggles and murmurs. By now the news of F’Thr and Opna’s latest escapade must’ve spread like swamp sickness during summer.
Nuri kept right on F’Thr’s heels as he swaggered along, despite the stir they were causing, and she forced herself to chat brightly with Opna about a new VR game she had no interest in playing. Yet she caught at least one, “Ooh, look, Goblin-ears is in trouble too” comment. That stung this morning, and she had to resist the urge to pull her hood even lower.
Don’t let them know they’re getting under your skin.
It didn’t help that she’d not had any sleep either, and no one had told them they could take the morning off. She didn’t think they’d be allowed to even if she’d asked. Raphel or another facilitator would probably have said that operating as avatar didn’t always happen under optimum conditions, or they’d have used other big words and phrases that sounded awfully logical and official, but in practice just meant “no”.
While she wasn’t exactly tired, her eyes were scratchy, and the light felt too bright whenever she blinked. Despite her best intentions too, she was unable to stop herself from nodding off during their lessons – basic astronomy was making her head hurt. Another hint that she was not at all suited to this programme. Even as she propped herself up with a fist under her chin while straining to watch the screen as their facilitator waffled on about the formation of stars in nebulae, Nuri could feel sleep tug at her.
Just close your eyes for a little bit. Just rest them for a short while …
“Nuri!” the facilitator said sharply.
“Yes!” Nuri straightened.
“No sleeping during lectures!”
“No, Facilitator.” She scrubbed at her eyes. Perhaps it would be best if she went to splash water on her face. Nuri checked the time and sank into a mire of dismay when she realised she still had another three quarters of an hour before they broke for tea.
She raised her hand, and the facilitator turned towards her, clearly irritated.
“May I be excused briefly to visit the bathroom?”
The human woman sighed loudly and gestured for Nuri to go.
More titters, for whatever reason, followed her as she made her way down the half-moon lecture theatre to the door, which was to the right of the facilitator’s podium. If she could remind herself the next time why falling in with F’Thr’s bright ideas wouldn’t always work …
The corridors linking the lecture halls were dimly lit, whether to make it more comfortable for the races that preferred low light, to save power, or both, Nuri couldn’t tell. Simply moving was good – it was easier to remain alert.
Once she reached the bathroom, she went into the stall at the far end of the row and pulled the door shut behind her. Despite the maintenance bots’ efforts, people kept marring the interior of the stalls with graffiti. Only yesterday they’d scrubbed everything off, thinning the dull paint in places so you could see the texture of the 3D-printed wall beneath. Already someone fancied themselves an artist.
I just wrote on the wall again. Deal with it!
Jayre Forth kisses like a dead guppy.
Someone else had left a lipstick kiss, to which another had written in great black letters: Who’s stupid enough to kiss a wall? Why don’t you lick the toilet?
That made Nuri laugh. She never had anything interesting to write on the walls, but she liked reading the comments.
But then other squiggly letters caught her eye.
The Goblin is a scummy barrens crim.
Nuri swore softly as she stared at the words. The ink was permanent, as she discovered when she rubbed at it with her thumb. She’d need spirits to clean it off the wall. No one believed the dreck written on toilet walls, right? Just as well she had bathroom duty …
How had they found out?
She’d have to go get cleaning supplies and clean up this mess. During tea.
Which was exactly what she did. Half an hour would be enough, surely? Rubber gloves protecting her hands, she scrubbed furiously at the scrawl, not caring that she was hunched on her knees, halfway into the stall. And things were going well, she reckoned. The letters were fading with each swipe –
That was, until her bucket was kicked over, and the dirty water spilled across the ceramic floor, soaking into the knees of her overalls.
“Ancestors above!” she exclaimed, getting up, only to be shoved against the wall by one of the Nasty Girls – the large one with the bad green-dye hairdo.
Next to her was Stasja, her pretty little face screwed up in a sneer.
“Look what we found in the bathroom, Stassie,” said the bigger girl. A faint smell of swamp-jigger clung to her, and the bottom dropped out of Nuri’s stomach.
“I’m sorry, Vella. Truly I am. I didn’t –”
The human slammed her fist into Nuri so hard, all the air was driven from her lungs and her world darkened with the impact of her head against the wall. Crippling pain followed. Everything was spinning as she sagged to the floor in a ghastly puddle from the kicked-over bucket.
“Crap, Vell, there’s blood on the wall. You’ve really hurt her.” Stasja sounded worried.
“Serves the damned bitch right.” Vella didn’t sound sorry at all.
Next Nuri knew, someone’s foot connected with her lower abdomen, and her world blossomed into even more agony as she doubled over, unable to breathe for what felt like forever even though she was writhing like a fen-mole stuck in a trap.
The few times she’d been in scraps in the Den, Nuri had still managed to duck out of the worst of the fighting. This was … this was intense. Like the world was ending.
She braced for another kick, only to faintly hear girls shouting, and then cool hands were placed on her forehead, followed by a rush of relief so intense she started crying. Each jagged breath hurt.
“You leave her alone, Vella. Let the facil
itators determine what punishment is enough.”
Mei.
The slim girl was surprisingly strong as she helped Nuri into a seated position just as F’Thr started yanking on Vella, pulling her back.
“Are you going to be all right? Would you like me to take you to the clinic?” Mei asked.
Nuri shook her head, gasping for air. “Wh– What did you do to me?”
“I don’t score high as an empath, but I can block your pain sensors until the worse passes. You’re still hurt, however.”
Vella and Stasja made a noisy departure from the bathroom, assisted by an equally loud F’Thr, who had threatened to projectile vomit ink on them. Stasja kept whining about how awful it was that she was forced to be in the same squad as “that halfbreed goblin”. As a parting shot, she hurled out, “Disgusting barrens crim!”
Mei’s expression grew pained. “Well, at least they’ve left.”
“Thank you,” Nuri whispered. “I don’t know what I would have done if –”
“Let’s not dwell on it, all right? Come.” Mei rose and helped Nuri to her feet.
“For what it’s worth, I do regret last night’s little escapade,” Nuri said. “I didn’t think things through.”
Mei gave a rough laugh. “While I don’t approve of your decision to aid and abet our resident pranksters, I have to give it to the three of you that you most certainly took Vella and her cronies down a notch or two. I wouldn’t exactly say they had it coming …” She shrugged. “But yeah, they had it coming. You’re not the only one they’ve been targeting. Maybe now the facilitators will step in.”
F’Thr joined them as they came to the washbasins, his skin nearly black. “Nuri! Are you okay?”
Nuri nodded. “I’ll live.” Each breath was tight, and her nausea spiralled in her stomach.
“Damn it! She came in so fast, I only figured out what was going on when they already had you –”
“It’s all right.” Nuri clasped his wrist. “I’ll live.” He’d been watching out for her?
Sing Down the Stars Page 7
