Year of the Orphan

by Daniel Findlay

  28

  Before

  What happened to ya?

  She turned at the question. It was that yung fella she always saw when she was down the market. A coupla years older than her which she sposed made him eleven or twelve. He was always nickin shit or runnin from sumwun. Tall and skinny with dark eyes an curly black hair cut tight.

  What happened to yer back? That old bastard bin givin ya the lash?

  He was always watchin her. Werent too many yungens around so it caught her notice when he had his band around. Like the little kids in the System got caught up in his web or sumthin.

  Whats yer name?

  Whats yours?

  She was done bein talked at. He smirked at her.

  They call me the Block.

  That cos yer thick?

  His smirk grew. She turned her back on him and kept walkin ahead, ignorin him as he fell in step next to her.

  Wanna job?

  I got a job.

  Come work with me and the rest of us.

  Come work for ya, ya mean.

  Only wun word different.

  The last thing she needed was more lashes and the boss still werent back for another day. No tellin what Karra would do if he decided she’d took too long with the supplies. She rounded on the boy followin her, comin up to his chest height and havin to look up to meet his eyes.

  It dont matter what happened to my back. I stuffed up and I got beat. But I dont wanna get beat again when I get back to my boss so just piss off an let me be. I got work to do.

  Yeah alright. Block raised his palms. I seen you ya know. I seen you the day you come in. Seen you traded.

  She stepped right to him an the look on her face made him take half a step back fore he could help himself. He kept his hands up, speakin calm an quick.

  No shame in it. Plenny traded roun here. You aint the first wun I seen that bald bastard take off the block but you the only wun I aint seen him drop a week later at the pits.

  You talk a lot dontcha?

  Just sayin yungens dont last long here. Specially not them traded an specially not them that cross paths with that bald fella. Hes a bad wun, but I reckon you already know that. It aint gunna be like that though when I got sumthin to say bout it. You seen my peeps around, I know you have. Get enough of us together aint gunna be no more yungens n kin paid for. All brothers an sisters lookin out. Its gunna go hard on them wanna trade skin an bone, unnerstand?

  She spat on the ground, lookin at him flat.

  Unnerstand you talk too much. Unnerstand you’re gunna get me lashed again.

  She turned her back on him, makin her way among the shacks, bitin her lip and feelin her clothes rub this way and that on the open sores. Karra had poured sum oil in em to stop infection but they throbbed, just kept beatin away with her heart. She looked back and watched Block talkin to another kid, eyes bright and serious. Prolly givin that kid the same story. She put her head down and set to rememberin Karras orders.

  29

  Before

  The System aint a place Id wish on ya, Orphan, but I walked a long ways as a yungen an far as I can tell its the only place that got new life breakin through. The only place I seen with this much clear water, the only place I seen people gathered all together like they once was an the only place I ever seen kids, sick as they are. When I was a yungen it were cold, Orphan. Cold all the time. Ya prolly cant imagine that but I come outta mountain country to the East an I wandered a long ways in me youth. I hear em call me the Old Man of the mountain in there an they aint know I nicked that name from sum that come a long time before me. When I came up there was still sum honest soil to be found an I still had a line to me family but the yearsve marched on Orphan an I been huntin the lair of the beast since them times. They knew, Orphan, they had stories of this place even back then. Called it all kinda things an it were all part of the Nullaba. The Nullaba were a crossroad, unnerstand? It were a place to hide things, a place to make things disappear. Nullaba means disappear in them old tongues. Its a place marked not by whats there but by whats missin. An thats where our beast comes from, thats where it dug its holes an sank its nests into the sand. All that steel an copper an concrete ya find hidden out there in the bush, those are the tracks we gotta follow. Shape of the beast? A story for another time, Orphan. We’ll get to it.

  30

  On the run in she couldnt help herself, kept checkin behind herself for days like that spidery white Ghost was gunna be doggin her tracks. Slept blade up, ragmouthed like she’d learned nuthin at all, expectin each sunset to be her last but it were like the land held its breath an let her go. She werent sure the dust an the scrub wasnt playin with her. Still blacked her mouth as the sun went down. Any chance she had she figgered. She couldnt shake the look of the Ghost out of her head. She bunked early, like she were makin it last. In the shade cast by sum of the last eucalyptus she took a moment of quiet but evry time it got still she could hear the creatures workin in the dirt below, the endless diggin of the mites and ants and the crawlin of the fat grubs. Made her think of the old bloke. She an himd come out here for the commune, for the meet with the soil and the trees and the creatures. She werent sure where it got him. She sailed the last day on broken black top, littered with hulks picked clean, she had names for sum of em, names for the bones inside, names for their colours. The heat baked off em an even with their familiar sandblasted hides they looked like they was sumthin magic, things not from where she were from. Sumthin that werent never gunna be put right an on its way again. The System came up faster than the sun dropped and the Watch saw the dust plume long before she got close to the gate. Helped em that it was still daylight. She pulled the Wide Open Road in a big loopin arc, bringin her broadside on to the walls and pullin the sail in an lettin her coast to a stop in front of the Watch house. The Watchman were the same young kid but he werent leanin on his pike this time. This time it were pointed at her chest and it werent waverin nearly enough for her liking.

  You. You again. Yer the Orphan int ya?

  There were plenny more but she dint see no point denyin it. She nodded. The kid took a step back but kept the pike up and pointed dead at her.

  The councils askin for ya. Been lookin for ya.

  She nodded again. She knew who was callin themselves council these days. Yeah, Old Man been gone a long time, that was for sure. The kid rummaged in the sack he had slung over his back and pulled out a pair of rusted metal bracelets strung together with a bit of plastic rope. He chucked em at her and they fell in the sand.

  Put em on.

  She looked at the metal loops lyin in the dust and then down at her hands.

  They aint gunna fit.

  Dont matter, orders is orders.

  She looked past the end of the pike and into the eyes of the kid. Not a whole lotta imagination there. Prolly wouldnt even see her move when she stepped past his big clumsy weapon but then again maybe he had just enough imagination to skewer her if she tried. This sorta thing was more Blocks game she reckoned. She bent down and slipped the bracelets over her hands, holdin em up to the kid. There werent no way to tighten em up and they hung loose around her scrawny wrists. She could slip her hands out with no more than a thought but the fact she had em on seemed to please him.

  Lets go.

  Not leavin me ship out here.

  We’ll bring it in.

  Nowt to be done she figgered. The kid flicked his head towards the door an then stepped through, bangin the pike on the frame. She followed, a sposed prisoner, but he’d shouldered arms and was barely lookin at her now. Far as his mind went he’d done his duty real good. A pair of blokes from the inside wall was workin on openin the big door, hopefully to drag the Open Road inside an she reckoned that were as good as it was gettin for now. Wun of Blocks yungens was prolly already on his way back to him with news that she’d showed up and she had to hope he’d collect the ship and stow it sumwhere safe. Plenny of people around anyway, plenny of witnesses and when the Block set his mind to
findin sumthin you dint really wanna be the wun holdin, or the wun holdin him up.

  Come on then.

  The kid gestured to her and started up the first ring road towards where the council sat.

  You run into the Reckoner or sumthin out there?

  She looked hard at the kid but his face were dumb. Just a story to him.

  Come over all sour you have. Look like you seen a Ghost or sumthin. Not yer day is it.

  He smirked at his own cleverness but she dint say nuthin. Seen a Ghost. Real fucken funny.

  Dont worry, yer ships safe, they probly just wanna have a yarn to ya. Them yarns dont always go easy though. You should think real hard about who yer seen mixin with.

  She finally spoke.

  Been eatin scraps what fell off the big fellas table have ya? Set yer ears to catchin idle chatter. You know, out there, sum of them big Ghosts wear ears strung round their necks. Ten, a dozen, maybe. Them ears dont hear nuthin no more.

  She were makin it up but the kids face closed an he dint say anythin else. Just set his nose towards the centre, where Karra sat up in his rooms tryna pretend he were the Old Man. Only both of them knew he weren’t a shadow of the Old Man and she wondered for not the first time whether sum of the bad blud they carried was wun day gunna come to the light and whether or not today was gunna be the day.

  31

  Before

  Karra knew the boss werent happy but for sum reason the old fella hadnt said nuthin. He dint know how long that were gunna last but the look on the Old Mans face when he saw them stripes the girl was wearin had been sumthin terrible. The waitin was worse than coppin a floggin straight away. The old fella had quizzed the girl but Karra had been listenin an she aint said nuthin past she earned em and she was gunna do better next time. At least she had the sense to keep her mouth from flappin but there were no mistakin whod put the cat on her an if he had to answer for it Karra reckoned she’d had it comin a long time. She’d been takin her chances with all that time book lernin and her chores gettin left till last and not dun proper. He sat in the annex, countin the profits from the days sales of scrap and the tithes dropped off from sum of them what sat on the council and them what had been healed by tinctures or hands of the boss. There were plenny to count, and Karra entered the numbers and the weights of gold in the big ledger, takin note to do it real careful. He had his head down, scribin neat when he heard the scuffin footsteps of the boss and looked up to see the Old Man come in the room.

  You put the cat on the Orphan?

  Karra put down the quill. Yeah boss. Sumthin wrong?

  The boss switched to the hands. What for?

  She was daydreamin, not pullin her weight. Werent the first time neither boss, hadta bring her in line.

  That Orphan belongs to me. Unnerstand? Same way you do? You wanna damage sumthin that belongs to me that means you owe me.

  Karra felt the fear. This werent the boss he’d seen much in the last two or so years. This were the old boss. The wun what swung the catonine his self, the wun what had bought Karra from his old master. The boss was speakin with the hands again.

  How long you been here Karra?

  Maybe ten years.

  An how many times I flogged ya?

  Four times boss.

  An do ya recall what ya done to earn it?

  Karra dropped his eyes. He dint like the way this was goin but he let his hands answer the boss.

  Wun was wine, two was hoardin, three was that dead yungen I were too hard on and the last was breakin wun of the old books.

  And it were years ago that we was done with the cat, werent it?

  Karra nodded.

  But ya done it again dint ya, ya took liberties and ya laid hands on that Orphan. I dont believe she done nuthin to deserve it and her a yungen still. You well know the lash can kill em young as that and after all the lernin I been given her, all the work I been puttin in to make sure she’s ready yer just gunna flog her cos ya think Im favourin her? Aint I dun right by you these years?

  There was a long silence and Karra felt the blud rushin in his ears.

  Go get the cat, Karra. Lets get this dun so you wont forget.

  The boss turned his back and looked out through the window, lookin out an up at the stars and Karras hand almost without thinkin took the quill. In the low light he crossed the room slow and steady and still all without thinkin, the blud loud in his ears, crashin like the sound of faroff thunder he grabbed the Old Mans face from behind and stuck the quill into the side of his neck, again and again and again. The boss tried to turn but Karra stayed behind him, not wantin to see the eyes, not wantin to see the work of his hands and the hot blud that was coverin em. The boss dint make no proper sound but sum wet noises deep in his throat and Karra kept jammin the quill in until the end snapped off an he was left holdin the broken stick. The old fella slipped to his knees real slow and come to rest, forehead against the sill, blud hittin the frame, drippin out inta the yard and back inside all over the dusty floor. He stood there lookin down at the boss, seein how thin and grey the hair was on top and how the skin come through lookin like old leather. He felt madness on him, like he aint done what he just done. Like it werent real and he werent standin here lookin down at the boss. Karra dropped the broken quill and stepped back from where the boss kneeled. The smell of blud was in the air like hot iron and it were makin him sick. Whatd he done? What the fuckd he done?

  32

  Before

  Theyd come to a different place than they usually had their parlays. The old fella took em East first an then South a ways by the sun an to a soak she aint never seen before. It dropped down off the floor of the flats into a little gully an it were cooler an shaded though there was no trees. He cast around a while an then sat, tellin her to dig so she dug an there was sweet water where the ground had looked dry. They made a brew an the Old Man took a smoke an then they sat a while in silence. She watched the old fella an then she lost her focus, mind driftin to her mum an how it felt to sleep next to her an the smell of her an the breath of her. Her hair smelled of dust an sweat but it were sweet an she could almost catch it again. The old fella coughed an she were back in the soak an she reckoned it were the smell of the sweet water thatd caught her. She blinked her eyes careful, not lookin at the old bloke, lissenin to him hack an clear his throat.

  We come sumwhere new today Orphan. Want ya ta start rememberin these kinda places and what they feel like. Might be they save yer life wun day an it might be what I tell ya saves sumwun elses life too. You remember the beast? You remember the light an the heat an the fire. Took many fellas to their rest Orphan. Not just here but evrywhere. I reckon its the thing that happened to all things. I been in places to the east, great fallen bridges an rivers run dry. Dammed with the bones of dead men an cattle. I seen towers fallen on each other an fires that mighta been burnin for a lifetime. Smoke in the air so thick ya cant never approach. But this beast is a manyshaped thing. This beast got other signs. Ya cant see it but it can creep in the water and the air and the animals then sooner or later it gets in you and then your chest burns and yer eyes bleed and yer hair falls out and yer too weak to stand and it dont care if yer the boss or a beggar, yer done for. Thats me terror. Anythin but that. An I got sumthin for ya that gotta be spoke. Not much to give ya in the way of lernins but I got a name for ya to remember, lissen well. A place. A place called Maralinga, hear me? Ken it good.

  33

  Do ya know why I had ya brung here?

  She shook her head.

  Still not a big wun for talkin are ya? Still got them stripes on ya back?

  They stood, just the two of em in Karras version of the old fellas readin room. He sat, leanin forwards, bunkered behind the desk, cup and bottle of clear wine within reach and she could smell it comin off him so strong she could see it.

  What ya been doin out there in the desert? Still chasin the old fellas leavins?

  Just scavvin.

  Karras throat worked and sum sounds what
passed for a laugh hacked their way past his stump. Just scavvin. I heard tell you been out there treatin with Ghosts. How I know you aint had sumthin to do with all that darkness way back when. How I know the old fella dint tell you where all his treasure was an it were you what had him all laced up?

  The stink of clear wine was washin over her and his eyes was spinnin round, not focussin on her proper.

  You know I was sleepin. I never even seen them Ghosts.

  His eyes got real sharp for a second and he studied her close. Yeah, you was sleepin wasnt ya. But that dont mean you werent responsible.

  His hate was washin off him like the stink of the wine.

  Long time ago, just a kid back then.

  He snorted. Just a kid now. What I wanna know is where and what ya been scavvin? My fellas on the gate said ya come back without yer ship and lookin all beat and woozy and now ya come back in bold as brass after bein gone a long while, a real long while, back out across the flatland like it aint nuthin to head out inta the Glows. You still doin his work? He tell ya where all that gold he kept visitin was? That what ya doin out there? Sum boys round the hook told me they took ya way out into the Glow fields, way out near the big Spirals. Arkoola way they said. Thats bad country, yer long past the Boundaries there. Whats a skinny orphan like you want out there? Nuthin but dust and sand and Glows … and Ghosts. You bringin Ghosts with ya? That what ya did way back when? Always had the taint on ya. First day you was bought, and you was bought cheap, mind, cos ya had the stink of them Glows on ya. I know what happened to ya out there way back when. I asked em later, them scavs what brought ya in. They kilt yer mum and yer brother, werent but a few bones to be found, the Ghosts et em clean.