Wants of the Silent

by McPartlin, Moira;

  ‘Are you mad? Let the crew deal with them. They’re restless enough without you wading in.’

  ‘Someone has to do something before there’s a mutiny or massacre.’

  Ridgeway pulled back his shoulders in that way he does, but I could see from the pinks of his eyes that fear lay just below the surface. But there was something else. He looked ready to drop; I guessed he hadn’t fully recovered from his near-death tumble down the cliff before the escape.

  ‘Trust me, Ridgeway,’ I said in a clear voice. There would be no whispering in this camp. Whispering was for sneaks and cowards.

  As I took the gun I noticed some of the prisoners eyeing it, eyeing me.

  There was a box bolted to the middle of the hall that served as a makeshift store for extra life jackets. A vessel this size was only meant to hold a fraction of the men. The cold gun was heavier than expected and I had to heave it high enough to rattle the muzzle on the box. That got minimal attention. I ran the muzzle along the rungs of the bunk casings. A great cacophony sounded, louder than I expected. It tore into the delicate ears of the men, some held their hands up in protection, many growled louder and stepped up to meet me. My back ran with sweat.

  ‘Right, men, stand to attention,’ I blustered.

  Their recovery was swift. A guard stepped forward but another held him back with a smirk and a nod towards me.

  The first snigger happened just to my right but soon it snowballed around the hall, gaining mirth and momentum as it went, until some guffawed. My face whooshed in heat. This wasn’t happening. I was still a Privileged in their eyes and they should obey.

  ‘I said, stand to attention.’

  ‘Or what, small fry?’ a voice sounded from halfway down the hall. This wasn’t the way it happened at Academy training camp. I saw Ridgeway move to join me but Arkle stayed him and took his place.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Arkle asked through gritted teeth.

  I looked toward Ridgeway: a Bas, a foreigner, neither Privileged nor native. Up until a couple of days ago he was guarding these men and now we were literally all in the same boat. Escapees from a prison, fugitives from the State. I was half native but these men didn’t know that. To them I was Davie’s grandson, a full Privileged, one of the ruling classes to be served and obeyed by these native slaves. The body of laughing men who stood before us were obviously native full bloods despite the DNA tampering they had undergone.

  Arkle’s voice was loud enough for all to hear and yet soft, unthreatening. ‘These men have been through enough,’ he said to me. ‘They are tired, they are restless.’ He turned to the men. ‘You only have a few more hours until we reach our destination. Settle down, get some sleep. The Bas guard will not be harmed.’ It was as if he were administering another drug.

  Someone murmured, ‘Aye well, it’s been a while since we’ve had a laugh, give us that, son.’

  Arkle nodded to the speaker as he took my arm and led me back to Ridgeway.

  ‘Ridgeway was in danger. I had to do something.’

  ‘And you are the tyrant’s grandson. Why should they obey you?’

  ‘I’m Privileged!’

  ‘And your point is?’

  ‘What the snaf is that supposed to mean?’ But Arkle walked away without answering.

  A few prisoners lingered in the hall, snarling at me like bears on a chain. Most were herded back to their bunks by crew. One sub-mariner, a native, stepped forward. He had two shiny buttons on his cuffs where Arkle had three.

  ‘OK, men, you’ve had your laugh, now step back to your bunks,’ he said to the bears. ‘You’ll be organised and debriefed when we arrive.’

  As he turned and swung by me he grabbed my tunic and held it a little too tightly.

  ‘Try that again and you will spend the rest of the journey in the head.’

  ‘I was only trying to get some order.’

  ‘Aye, well, that’s why we’re here, laddie. Vanora isn’t dumb, you know. She knows how it is. They’ll be disciplined when we get there.’

  ‘How much longer?’ My schoolboy shit-whiny voice rose. I checked it.

  He consulted his communicator. ‘Soon. And you know what that means.’ He tapped his ear.

  The crew knew what was coming and this time they were prepared.

  Most of the men did exactly as they were instructed to do. One ugly guy scarred permanently from ear to ear with a smiley, about Pa’s age but taller, strutted along the deck. A sub-mariner shouldered his zap wand but said nothing.

  ‘Hey, boy,’ Smiler shouted over to me. ‘What’s it like to change sides?’

  ‘Leave him alone, he’s just a kid,’ a small skinny guy with tufted white and black hair chipped in.

  I tried to stand straight but the weight of the past few hours withered me in my boots. These guys didn’t know I’d watched my grandfather blow his brains out and wouldn’t care if they did, in fact there would be celebration. Smiler took no heed.

  ‘Ah only asked a question.’

  ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ I couldn’t help myself.

  ‘Aye, evil bastard’s grandson.’

  ‘Vanora’s grandson,’ I threw back.

  The guy invaded my space, his rank breath pushing me back. ‘Aye well, we’ll have to see what colours you fly, won’t we?’ There was no mirth in his eyes but his knifed-on smile unsettled me. Then he tilted his head to one side and was about to say something else when a commotion sounded behind him and he shot his hands up to his ears.

  Groans rumbled. A sub-mariner led one man to lie down in a foetal position. Two others worked up and down the hall injecting a clear liquid into the necks of each prisoner. My rage bubbled; if they had sedative all along why leave it to the last minute to use? Some pushed their dose away, others helped restrain the more rowdy. The groaning soared to the point where I too pushed my hands over my ears to deaden the pain.

  Slowly the noise subsided to the low howl of three hundred stranded souls grieving a massacre of their native peoples. The sound I’d heard that first night I spent on Black Rock all those months ago. Before I knew of the DNA experiments; before I discovered I was not a full Privileged. Before I knew the truth about Vanora, Kenneth and Ishbel; the new dysfunctional family to replace my dead parents. Super.

  Soon the sub settled and Arkle led me to the conning tower and for the first time in twenty-four hours we breathed fresh air. I blinked at the brightness. The sky was wide and even though the sun hid inland, the light was startling. We floated on a body of water surrounded by towering cliffs that seemed to rise out of the sea. Ahead of us were two other submarines still on tow. On one of the trawlers, a figure stood madly waving. It was Kenneth, my new-found uncle, kin who had been installed in a cave, twenty-odd years ago by Vanora, to plan this escape. How was he feeling now? Judging by his windmilling arms, he seemed elated. Maybe even a little, what was the word – tipsy?

  The air tasted sweet, clean. The sky had breaks of blue slashed across it. Soon we would be meeting Vanora again.

  Ishbel

  Scud was more sozzled than she first thought. One minute he was squinting at her, next he was slumped in the chair snoring. She had to get him out. She filled her backpack with books.

  ‘Come on, we need to get moving.’ She slapped his face but his head lolled. ‘How long before the guards wake up?’

  ‘Uh?’

  She had no clue where the drugged guards would be but hoped Scud had secured them well. Slap. ‘Scud.’

  Was it only yesterday when she visited here with Vanora and Merj and planted the drugs for Scud to find and use on the guards? They’d tried to pass the thought map plan to Sorlie, but Davie was having none of it and kept Sorlie distant. Vanora had created a scene, being deliberately obtuse with Ishbel – a little game she was becoming a little too fond of. Ishbel had blotted her nonsense out by studying the books. Selec
ting the ones she would take when she returned. She had known she would return.

  The rucksack was too heavy so she removed a couple of paperbacks before hoisting Scud onto her shoulder.

  ‘Uh, uh.’ His hand gestured wildly, drool spilling from his mouth. His book lay on the table. Ishbel dumped him, bagged the book and hauled him onto her shoulder again. Scud’s book weighed a ton, she knew she should ditch some others but couldn’t bear to.

  ‘Goodbye, dear library.’ She doubted she would ever see its like again.

  Even in his emaciated state, Scud was still a dead weight; she almost had to drag him the last few metres to the reactor room. She shoved the book bag down the pipe first, then Scud, praying he wouldn’t land on it and do some damage.

  Scud and the books sprawled on the sand. Ishbel twisted to project her landing away from them. Morning light lazed on the horizon, as usual the cloud cover greyed the day. The beach showed signs of great commotion. Runnels left by the army’s feet still raked the shore, even though the tide had tried to smooth out the turbulent sand. Tides were like that, wash and repair.

  Scud rolled onto his knees, cradled his head in his hands and his feet dug into the sand. When he lifted his head his face split into a grimace and tears ran.

  ‘See. I told you. Isn’t it great to be free?’ Ishbel tried to smile but she could have punched him. They’d wasted too much time. When he started shivering she took her waterproof off and pulled it over the wasted body rattling inside the stolen guard’s uniform.

  ‘How? Get off?’ he slurred.

  ‘Same way I got here. Same way Sorlie and Kenneth got to this beach.’ She pointed up. ‘Along the cliff.’

  ‘Where are we?’ His wide eyes were fearful. ‘Sorlie. Davie.’ He began to scramble on the sand. He was ravelled with drunkenness or shock, hard to tell. Ishbel dug a vitpill from her pocket.

  ‘Here, take this, it’ll help sober you up.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, the island? Got tae get off the island.’

  ‘I’ve a boat. I stowed away on the boat Merj used when he tried to abduct Sorlie.’ But of course Scud didn’t know. ‘At first I didn’t know what Merj was up to, but he’d been acting strange ever since he’d met Sorlie in Davie’s library, so I tracked him and stowed on the boat. I’d planned to intervene but Sorlie did a pretty good job of putting Merj in his place. I just gave him a helping hand.’ She laughed at that. It had been such a long time since she’d laughed. What was wrong with her?

  ‘What’s funny?’

  ‘While Merj was winded I threw a butterfly bomb in his path. It blew his hand off.’

  Scud winced. ‘That’s funny?’

  Ishbel shrugged. ‘Come on, let’s get going. The vitpill’s kicked in now.’

  Scud was surprisingly nimble on the narrow ledge.

  ‘Where’s he now? This Merj,’ he asked as he clambered past a rock fall.

  ‘Dead, probably. At least he looked that way when I left him.’

  ‘And you didn’t try tae help him?’

  ‘Why should I help him? Vanora shunted me sideways to promote him.’ She worked hard to keep the bitterness from her voice. Natives were not permitted to show such emotion, yet who was going to report her now? Not Scud. ‘Come on, the boat will still be outside Kenneth’s cave.’

  ‘You’re weird, Ishbel, d’ye know that?’

  ‘You know nothing.’

  Scud stood still for a minute, his back pressed to the steep cliffside. He seemed to be contemplating. ‘Yeah, you’re right, ah know nothing. One minute a god, the next nothing.’

  ‘Look, I’m sorry, it’s just complicated, that’s all. Come on, let’s get off this island.’

  The boat was gone. The shore came into view as they reached Kenneth’s clifftop garden but there was no sign of either Merj or his boat. Even his detached hand was missing.

  ‘Damn and blast it to hell.’

  Scud shrugged and sat on the cliff edge. ‘So what’s plan B?’ He seemed almost pleased he didn’t have to leave, but Ishbel’s brows pringled as she clocked the area searching for answers.

  ‘We use Kenneth’s cave, see what we can come up with. If the Military come we’ll have plenty of warning.’

  ‘What if the guards set out the seekers? They won’t stay knocked out forever.’

  ‘Didn’t you lock them up?’

  Scud’s chin bumped off his chest.

  ‘Unbelievable.’ She bit her lip. ‘We have to take that chance. How long do we have?’

  ‘Another hour max.’

  At the cave entrance Scud dug his heels into the sand. ‘Ah’m not going in there.’

  ‘Why?’

  He sighed. ‘Get real, Ishbel. Ah’ll stay out here and enjoy the view.’ He sat on a rock facing the sea. They were silent for a few minutes until Ishbel noticed something different in Scud’s posture. His shoulders were tense, he was crying again.

  ‘Aw, Scud, don’t.’

  ‘Tell me,’ was all he said. Ishbel disappeared into the cave and came back carrying skins. She draped one around Scud and settled back on her rock huddled in the none too sweet-smelling skin.

  ‘She’s on a prison ship.’

  The groan that escaped Scud tugged at her gut. ‘How?’

  ‘Scud, your daughter had an addiction problem, you know that.’

  ‘Tig was getting treatment. One of the communications told me that. Vanora had fixed it, but something went wrong. The last ah heard of them, five years ago it was, they had both died of a virus.’

  Ishbel sighed. ‘That was a lie.’

  ‘A lie?’ She could see he didn’t believe her. ‘Why would Vanora lie to me?’

  ‘Because she needed you here and focused. It was for the cause.’

  Anger flashed across his face then retreated as quickly as a wave from the shore. ‘If that was a lie then what’s the truth?’ He rubbed and rubbed his hands down his thighs. ‘It’s cruel, that’s what.’ His head went down. She waited. He thumped the sand and sniffed his snot back. ‘Are you going tae lie tae me too?’

  ‘No. Never.’

  ‘How do ah know?’

  ‘I’m not Vanora. I’m in deep trouble just being here. She could have me put to death if she chose.’

  ‘But she won’t.’

  ‘No.’ Ishbel whispered. ‘Look Scud, you have to understand what it’s like now for natives out here. Life is harder than ever. So many purged, abused, starved.’

  ‘Huh. Hard? Ye’ve no idea what a hard life is like.’

  She sighed. ‘No point swapping hardships. The truth is, Tig fell deeper into her rotten world. Reinya cared for her in the Urbans, but Tig got into trouble. Stole some Mash, didn’t pay her dealer, got beat up. I don’t know, loads of bad stuff.’ Ishbel tried to ignore Scud’s pinched face; she had to get this tale over with and the quicker the better for them to move on. It was like being back in the Jeep, telling Sorlie his parents were dead and reclassified as traitors. Watching his snivelling pain. She knew she was being cruel but it was the only way she knew how to do it.

  ‘She was sentenced to two years on a prison ship. Reinya was fourteen and was to be taken to the teenage training camp, but she didn’t want to leave her mother. She snuck into the Transport with Tig, disguised as a boy. Somehow managed to make it look as though she was shackled to her. They both ended up in the prison ship. You know they aren’t too particular about IDs at that stage.’

  ‘We have tae get them out.’

  Ishbel placed a hand over Scud’s but he snatched his back. ‘No sympathy, just tell me.’

  She stood and rubbed the palms of her hands, trying to summon some warmth. ‘Tig died after only six weeks. Her chemical withdrawal was too severe – they did nothing for her except to give her more of a kicking.’ She bit her lip. ‘Reinya’s alone on the ship with the rest of the wret
ched.’

  Scud was surprisingly calm. ‘How do you know all this?’

  ‘You know Vanora has spies everywhere.’ Ishbel gave a little cough, ‘And I saw them.’

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘When I brought Sorlie here, we stopped off at the port. Vanora asked me to check they were alright. They were there, we saw them before they boarded Dead Man’s Ferry.’

  ‘Why would she ask you tae do that?’

  ‘I’m not sure – Vanora’s a control freak. Maybe there was another reason.’

  Scud thumped his head with his fist and Ishbel grabbed it, stopped him hurting himself, held it tight.

  ‘They were there on the quay. Reinya was unrecognizable as a girl and she looked tough. She’s OK, Scud. All reports indicate she’s OK.’

  She placed a hand on his shoulder but he pushed her off. ‘We’ll get her back, I promise,’ she said.

  Scud’s tears dried on his cheeks. With one finger to his right then left nostril he ejected his snot onto the sand, mopping up the dew with the heel of his hand.

  ‘We were so proud of Tig, her mother and I, even though we were only kids ourselves when we had her. We didn’t know things would turn out the way they did. One day we had our whole life ahead of us. Ah had a good teaching job at the University of Urban G, and my Jeanie would stay at home with Tig.’

  He turned his ragged mutated face towards Ishbel. ‘They took me for speaking out. Did you know that historians are the best predictors of the future? We can see the past mistakes and see them happening again. It was all there, you know. Great blind spots in history. Just look back at good people who allowed atrocities tae happen. We’re all responsible. The signs were there; the mounting hatred of the immigrants, the growing wealth gap, the total disregard for people’s human rights, the media.’ He spat. ‘The media. Why didn’t ah believe they would go so far as tae imprison the academics, the writers? Had it not happened before, many times? The purge and DNA classification, the separation of Privilege and native classes. Ah was blind. Of course they wanted rid of the native intelligentsia. It’s a wonder they didn’t kill us there and then.’