CHAPTER 14
The following weeks passed in a blur for Ray. She spent much of her time with her friends, enjoying the last of her freedom between the end of school and the imminent start of her work in signals. The rest of the time she spent sleeping or looking after Jonah.
He was weak at first and slept a lot, but as the days progressed his health and energy began to return. Jonah was an easy and pleasant conversation companion. He told her funny stories about his family back home in Wiltshire, England, the pets he had grown up with, his friends from school, and his sister and cousins, including the titillating Beatie. He told her about joining the UN Marine Corps, how tough the training was and how he was assigned to Aymes.
He told stories of some of the missions he had been on with her. From the way he spoke, Aymes was regarded as almost a mythical figure. Hard as nails but legendary for keeping her people alive under extraordinary circumstances.
For her part, Ray was mostly happy to listen, aware how small her life must appear by comparison to his. She told him things when he asked, about her mother and brother and her friend Rose and how she had never known her father.
“Mum has never said anything about my father, she answered one day. “She always seems very uncomfortable when I ask her about it and says she can’t remember. There’s a story though.” Ray cast a nervous eye toward Jonah, wondering if it was appropriate to be talking about this stuff.
“Go on,” Jonah encouraged.
Ray hesitated but continued anyway.
“Mum used to be a remote engineer. Working on the relay towers outside Diana. She was on a two-week mission that went into in the Sunset Ring where Darklands start.”
Jonah settled back, his hands behind his head.
“She went missing,” Ray continued. “They say it was almost a month before she got back to Atlas. She had nasty burns that looked electrical and a gash in her side. Then she found out she was pregnant with me.”
Jonah frowned. “She got pregnant in the Sunset Ring?”
“Nobody knows for certain. If she did, then it was in the first few days of the tour. The other engineers that were with her, say she just disappeared one day. None of them have owned up to me and Mum has never named anybody. I think they all assume she just went a little mad. What, with the pregnancy hormones and all.”
Jonah lay back mulling over Ray’s words. He rubbed his jaw pensively. “Looks like you have your fair share of intrigue out here too then.” Ray smiled at that.
Being young and fit, Jonah’s health recovered rapidly, and he was discharged back to his unit after only five days in the Medbay. It transpired over the following weeks that Jonah and Ray found themselves in each other’s company regularly as Jonah recuperated. Work hadn’t started for Ray yet, so she was relatively free to accompany him on the long walks he was using to get his fitness back. She started to teach him sign language as they walked. He learned quickly and after only a few weeks was starting to understand Ray more easily without her needing to write on something.
During these weeks, a second shuttle arrived from the Golden Hind. This shuttle delivered a couple of transports, earth moving equipment, and habitat builder robots. The robots immediately set to work clearing a large space on the far side of the shuttle port from Atlas.
“The new site would host a barracks for the next wave of arrivals,” was the official word from Captain Spiranos.
One afternoon, as Ray and Jonah returned from a walk around the shore of the Great Lake that lay to the North of Atlas, they happened upon a few of the CDSE engineers walking a trail parallel to the one Ray and Jonah occupied. Ray could hear their guttural laughter well before their black uniforms appeared through the gaps between the twisted tree trunks and undergrowth.
Ray noticed Jonah’s face crease into a scowl as they approached, and she started to hear the edge of menace in the tone of the men’s jesting. Around thirty meters further ahead on the trail, Ray noticed a figure with white hair, wearing the familiar blue of a Dianian work dress. One of the men was making wet smacking sounds with his mouth and another was walking with his hand cupping his crotch.
“Common darling,” he was calling up the trail, “tastes just like anchovies. It’s a delicacy on Earth you know?” The third man laughed and jogged a few paces to shorten the gap between them and the girl ahead. She looked back over her shoulder at the sound of their footfall and quickened her own pace, eyes wide with fear.
Ray knew her from school. She was a couple of years older than Ray and had been a friend of Sparks during his schooling. She was carrying one of the woven vine baskets they used for collecting food from the forest. As she stepped towards a bend in the trail a fourth man stepped out from behind a tree, directly into her path. She was still looking behind over her shoulder, so she collided squarely with his chest, falling back onto the trail.
The basket dropped, and the contents scattered across the well-trodden soil. She scrambled to her feet and backed away from the man, head swinging left and right trying to gauge the whereabouts of the rest of the men.
“Got you now pretty,” the crotch grabber jibed as he circled around to her left. “Let’s have a look at that pretty mouth you got there. Bet you wish you could scream now huh?”
The man who had made the sucking noises glanced around and nodded at the one who had knocked her down. He lunged forward and grabbed at her shoulder. She leapt back and the man let go but continued to press towards her. The two others shepherded her and then lunged, forcing her to dart the other way. The first man then stepped aside, opening the way forward along the trail. All three men in the back lunged towards her, one growling and hooting like an animal. She broke for the gap at a sprint.
Jonah had broken into a run of his own and was already pulling away from Ray. Ray could see the men’s plan unfolding. The girl was already unsteady on her feet from oxygen debt and she only managed to run for about ten seconds before her knees buckled and she pitched forward onto her face in the dirt. Her lung implant simply unable to keep up with the demands her body was placing on it. The men cheered and jogged to where she lay. “Fucking turkey shoot,” one shouted. “Happens every time. Give them a fright and they drop like a fucking stone. Talk about not putting up a fight.”
He used his boot to lift the back of her dress and bent to look under it. “They always have those ugly gray knickers though. CDSE sure haven’t got much sense of style.” He bent to reach up her skirt just as Jonah came around the bend and arrived in the clearing. Ray had been forced to walk because of lack of oxygen, but could hear him clearly in the otherwise silent forest.
“Hello Pritchard.” The four men spun around to face Jonah, the front man with legs bent ready to spring. As Ray closed on them, she could see the fear and rage on his face.
“Fuck off marine, this is no business of yours,” he spat, flecks of white flying from his mouth.
Pritchard’s face seemed to be covered with a fine net of some kind but as she got closer, Ray realized his face was covered in a fretwork of tiny scars. Some looked like the result of accidents but many more were straight and clean, they looked surgical. Ray had no memory of seeing him climbing down from the shuttle and no recollection of him at the welcome party either. He wore the CDSE uniform but his was older and faded. Pritchard was also older than the men he was with and they appeared to be deferring to him now, waiting for his lead with idiotic grins plastered across their youthful faces.
“It will be your business if Pfeffer finds out,” Jonah directed at Pritchard, “Not the nicest woman but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t condone rape.”
“It’s not rape if they’re not human,” one of the other men sneered, circling around Jonah’s flank.
Pritchard stood up and play-acted thinking hard.
“Good point,” he responded, tapping his temple. “If they’re not human, then it’s not rape. What is it then Marco?”
“Bestiality boss,” one of the other men chimed in.
“Tha
t’s right Marco, if they’re animals, then it’s Bestiality. Clever boy” He turned back to Jonah. ”What’s a little bestiality between friends?”
Ray arrived just as the girl on the ground started stirring. Lake, that was her name. Ray recalled that she liked swimming. She walked in, moving much more calmly than she felt, to help Lake back to her feet.
“What have we here?” Pritchard said as Ray came into view. “Been doing a little bestiality of your own, have you? Look boys he’s got himself a throat fucker to play with. An ugly ginger one too.”
As Ray got close enough for Pritchard to see her clearly, his leering expression suddenly dissolved like hot wax. Blood flushed into his face reddening it and making the fine net of white scars stand out starkly. His response to Ray was immediate, visceral and frightening. Something about her had triggered this reaction, I was almost like her knew her. His lips drew back in a grimace and his eyes took on a haunted desperation. “What are you doing here?” he whispered shakily, his fists clenching and unclenching subconsciously.
Jonah shuffled sideways to intercede between Pritchard and Ray, “You’d better get back,” he stated calmly. “I don’t think you want to see this.” Ray held Pritchard’s eye for a second, frozen in indecision. Surely there was no way Jonah could fight off four of them. It took Lake pulling on her arm to get her to move. Ray turned just as one of the men launched a flank attack on Jonah. She saw Jonah sway back to avoid the punch and saw his elbow raised, leveling his forearm and fist to counter punch. Then her eyes were fixed on the path ahead and the way home.
The girls ran and fast walked as fast as their lung implants would permit. Leaving the dull grunts and smacks of fighting and the hoots of the CDSE men echoing through the trees behind them.
Ray and Lake stumbled into the outskirts of town, both exhausted and close to passing out. Neither girl had said a thing as they made their way through the last of the trees towards Atlas. The hungry vicious eyes of the men and their grotesque words stuck in Ray’s mind. She felt ill. As the girls neared one of the outlying buildings, Lake wrenched herself free of Ray’s grip, shoulders shaking with rage and exhaustion, and ran the distance to the front porch without looking back. Ray let her go.
A group of CDSE men were walking past on the other side of the dirt road and suddenly their open stares took on a new meaning. This was not just simple curiosity. Ray dropped her eyes, avoiding their gaze, and strode ahead. She was not certain of where she was going. Perhaps back to the barracks? Who did she want to tell? If she told Nettle and Sparks they were bound to do something stupid. Her Mother would be horrified and then try and ban her from visiting Jonah. Surely Jonah would tell somebody. Surely there was no way CDSE were allowed to behave like that. Rose, she finally decided, she could tell Rose.
Ray headed straight for her barracks. Now that the adrenaline was gone, she began to shake badly. She had no idea what had happened to Jonah. Had he been able to fight them off? Would they kill him? The fear and guilt of leaving him there to fight four men, made her feel light-headed.
Ray quickened her pace, imagining the men chasing her down the streets of Atlas and hauling her back to the CDSE compound for their evil sport. As she rounded the last bend she almost crashed into Nettle rounding the corner in the opposite direction. Ray’s hands flew up defensively. In her mind, she replayed the man stepping in front of Lake, knocking her to the ground. Nettle’s face switched to her default angry sneer but something in the way Ray looked at her must have given her pause. Nettle’s brow creased in concern.
“What’s happened? Was it that marine?”
Ray shook her head and despite her best efforts couldn’t contain herself. The story found its way to her fingers apparently by magic.
“It wasn’t me… I mean it didn’t happen to me. It was Lake, Sparks’ friend from school. Some CDSE men attacked her in the forest. Jonah and I were walking. He stopped them I think. They were fighting when Nettle and I left.”
Nettle grabbed Ray by the shoulders, a battle scowl across her face, her lips curling into a snarl…” What did they do to Lake?”
Ray saw the fury in Nettle’s eyes and backed off a step, not wanting to send her into a rage. “They chased her until she fell. I think one of the guys was putting a hand up her skirt when I got there. We stopped them though.”
Nettle was clenching her teeth so hard now that Ray started to regret telling her. Nettle grabbed Ray’s forearm and started dragging her down the road. Ray dug in her heels and pulled Nettle around to face her again.
“Where are we going? What are you going to do?”
“We are going to talk to Stone. He can’t ignore this. If he does, I’m going to fucking stab him in the face.” Nettle swung around, dragging Ray behind. She was amazingly strong. Ray stumbled a couple of times, but Nettle didn’t relinquish her grip.
Nettle dragged Ray past the marine guard outside town hall and down the corridor towards the small office that Stone usually occupied. She practically kicked in the door, barging in.
Stone sat in his office, Sargent Aymes and Prudence stood on the other side of his small desk looking down on him as if he were a school child. All heads turned in Ray and Nettle’s direction as the door collided forcefully with the wall. Nettle didn’t even pause to look at Aymes, marching directly up to Stone’s desk, dumping Ray in the corner, and started signing Her angry snarl was still intact and she completely ignored Prudence’s startled expression.
“Tell this stuck-up bitch that the disgusting refuse that CDSE have brought us from Earth have just attacked a friend of ours. Ask her if she’s ever been raped. Tell her I want to see those guys up in front of a Dianian jury or there is going to be hell to pay.”
Stone turned pale and his eyes flicked to Prudence. Clearly terrified that she was about to translate for Aymes. Prudence’s mouth hung half open as she clearly asked herself the same question. Aymes half turned and stared at Prudence, demanding an explanation. Stone made a calm down motion with his hands.
“Let’s take this slowly shall we,” he signed looking sideways at Aymes, his face pale. “Who did this happen to?”
“Lake,” Nettle signed, “Fern’s daughter. “Ray saw the whole thing. Four men in CDSE uniforms in the forest chased and attacked her. Luckily Ray and her pet marine interceded.”
This time Prudence did translate. Murmuring in Aymes’ ear as Nettle fired her words at Stone. Aymes’ face remained impassive during the exchange up until Nettle mentioned Jonah, then her eyes narrowed the tiniest amount.
Stone failed to respond, instead waiting for Aymes to say something.
“These are serious allegations,” she finally offered, “Might I ask why the girl was wandering the forest alone.”
Nettle’s mouth fell open, “Bad start lady,” Prudence had to lean back slightly to avoid Nettle’s flying fingers. We have every right to walk any fucking where we please on our own god damn planet. What were those men doing out there?”
“A question I will be sure to ask them. And this, so called pet marine,” Aymes’ eyes turned towards Ray. “Corporal Jonah Fielding I assume?”
Ray felt a chill creep up her spine at Aymes’ icy stare. Suddenly she had no desire to tell this woman anything. Ray shrugged and knitted her hands behind her back lest they start flying on their own like they had done with Nettle.
We will deal with any infractions that occurred between the military personnel and CDSE civilians. Stone, I trust you will talk to your population about appropriate behavior around your guests and take measures to keep them safe. Director Pfeffer will deal with the men concerned and get their side of the story.”
Aymes turned to leave as Nettle’s furious response began. Aymes eyes glided past Nettle as if she were transparent, her stony face impenetrable as tank armor.
Prudence moved with Aymes, her face white and her eyes fearful. She shot Ray a look half way between an apology and a warning.
Nettle turned back to Stone, “are you just going to sit t
here and let her talk to you like that, you useless fuck?”
“Now Nettle, don’t be overly dramatic. This is not the time for rash actions.”
Nettle cut him off, “and what would be a good time? When they kill someone? When some burly mouth breather is fucking you in the arse?”
Stone shrunk into his chair in the face of Nettle’s anger. She stared at him challenging him to say something. Finally, he tried again.
“They have their own procedures for this sort of thing. I’m sure they will…”
“You are going to leave it all up to them? Do you have any balls at all? If we don’t take control of this situation, we are going to be destroyed by these fuckers. Read your history Stone. CDSE will fuck us sideways like they have done with everybody else that is in their way. They even brought a fucking UN army for fucks sake.”
“I really don’t think there is any call for that kind of language,” Stone began weakly. Nettle threw up her hands in exasperation. The gesture was well short of expressing her disappointment, so she slammed her hands back on the table making Stone jump visibly.
“You are a waste of fucking DNA. I hope you are the first against the wall. Come on Ray.”
Nettle grabbed Ray’s arm again and dragged her back out the way she had dragged her in a minute before. They headed directly towards Ray’s Mother’s house, cutting through empty barracks to save time. As they opened the end door on the outer edge of the barracks district, Ray saw Jonah and three of the CDSE men being led across the compound by a cohort of marine and CDSE personnel.
Jonah was in handcuffs and was limping badly. A veil of dried blood streaked the left side of his face and his left eye appeared to be closed and badly swollen. Behind Jonah the three young CDSE men followed, also in handcuffs. They all had visible evidence of the fight, but none were in as bad a shape as Jonah. They held their faces down and looked suitably remorseful.
Jonah looked up as they appeared at the end of the barracks. Ray wrenched herself free of Nettle and made to jog over to Jonah. She noticed Aymes at the last minute, her huge hand clutching Jonah by the upper arm. Aymes noticed the falter in Jonah’s step and followed his eye line. She looked directly at Ray, her expression alone freezing her in place. Out of the side of her mouth Aymes said something to Jonah and he broke eye contact with Ray immediately, dropping his gaze into the dust at his feet. Aymes stared for another second at Ray, daring her to take another step forward then tugged Jonah’s arm to get him moving. He stumbled after her and Aymes gaze slid away as if Ray had ceased to exist.
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