Kingdom of Cages

by Sarah Zettel

  “And they hate it worse than the leashes. Lighten up, LaRoche.” He put Cookie on LaRoche’s shoulders, and LaRoche firmly, but not unkindly, put Cookie on the floor again.

  “Look—” LaRoche began.

  “Hang on,” interrupted Claudiu. “We’re up.”

  But Creampuff was trying to get into the pack again, and Biscuit and Brownie were playing tag around LaRoche’s shoulders while Claudiu was trying to apologize to the superiors and the rest of the line.

  Which was Teal’s chance.

  “I’ll take them,” she said quickly, gathering up ferrets and leashes until she had a whole armful.

  “Thanks,” said Claudiu, handing Creampuff across to her.

  What happened next was predictable, and exactly what Teal had hoped for. It took a split second for the ferrets to realize she was no ferret expert. Biscuit hurried up her shoulders, but the other three twitched themselves out of her hands and scampered straight through the scanners.

  “The ferrets!” Teal dove through the checkpoint, grabbing for the trailing leashes.

  “Oh, God’s own!” cried LaRoche exasperatedly.

  Teal made straight for the long, furry creatures, but the ferrets were not going to give their freedom up easily. They flew up the scanners, bulkheads, and bystanders. When yanked or shaken off, they twisted their leashes around ankles and brought those same bystanders crashing to the floor. Teal measured her length on the deck several times, diving for leashes or flashes of fur. Those not actually under ferret attack started laughing, and the laughter spread until it rang off the patched walls. Teal risked a glance at the superiors and saw both of them snickering as they handed Claudiu and LaRoche back their papers.

  Finally Claudiu waded into the fray. He pulled a handful of brown nuggets out of his pocket and scattered them on the deck. Instantly all four ferrets appeared in the middle of the spread, picking little treats up in their forepaws and nibbling happily. Teal gathered up their leashes and handed them over to their owner.

  “Thanks,” she said, straightening up. Without waiting for his answer, she turned and strode down the corridor, heading for the thickest part of the crowd.

  No one called her back. No one did anything except try to find room to walk or to stop and wait for an elevator.

  Score, thought Teal happily as she joined the elevator crowd.

  There were lots more superiors in Arm One. They marched in groups of four up and down the hallways, peering at every passerby, occasionally stopping them and demanding sheets and passes. Teal kept her head down so that her hair partially curtained her face, and tried not to walk too fast. She also tried not to worry too much about whether she’d be able to get into the directorate offices once she got there.

  Thankfully, there were no more checkpoints. But the farther she went, the wider and starker the corridors became, until finally they had been pared back to the original plates. There weren’t even any info screens. All the panels had been scrubbed and resealed until they gleamed under the bare fluorescent panels that glowed overhead without even attempting to imitate sunlight. Teal wondered if this section was even on the daylight rotation anymore. The people walking past her looked peaked somehow, as if they were short on sleep, or real light, or both. Most of them had three or more different kinds of badges on their sleeves, and only a few of those looked familiar.

  Overcrowding had evidently brought serious reorganization. Teal resisted the urge to touch her unmarked shoulder. If somebody stopped her, she’d deal with it then.

  But nobody did. Teal just kept on walking past yards of bare walls, across a floor that all but echoed when she stepped on it. Chena had said a billion times that if you acted like you belonged someplace, pretty much everybody would assume you did.

  Looks like she got something right after all. A memory of Chena holding her tight and saying they had to look after each other now welled up in Teal. She shoved it away. Like Chena had really looked after her, running off to go get herself maybe ripped open by the hothousers because Nan Elle told her to, and because she wanted a few days alone with her lover-boy.

  The directorate was one of those places you couldn’t miss. Even back when Teal had known it, its reinforced silver archway took up the breadth of the corridor. Information and dedicated credit terminals stood sentry outside the entrance in between desk banks of superiors and moderators who were there to route citizens into the proper offices or files.

  Much to Teal’s relief, all that remained intact. The superiors were armed and armored now, of course, and wired plastic and intercoms encased the desks, and there was nobody clogging the way to them, like there used to be. Still, they were all there.

  Let’s hope they’re all there to be used. Wrapping her mind around that wish, Teal walked up to the nearest nonsuperior desk bank.

  Three women and two men sat in individual shatterproof boxes. Teal picked the woman nearest to the pass-through on the grounds she might need to run for it.

  “Hello, citizen,” said the woman as Teal approached. She sounded mechanical, and her downturned eyes were wary under a fringe of straight black hair. Teal’s hand went up automatically to smooth back her own hair.

  “Hello,” she said, stopping what she hoped was a comfortable distance from the shatterproof. “But I’m not a citizen. I’m with the Authority and I need to get a message out to them.”

  The woman stared at Teal blankly for a moment, as if the input refused to register.

  “I’m sorry.” The woman blinked and pulled herself upright. “You said you were with the Authority? You’re not in uniform.”

  Teal gave her a watery smile. “I know. It’s a long story. Could you just please put me in touch with the official rep?”

  The woman frowned and poked at her keys for a moment. Teal wished she could lean over and see what was coming up on the screen. Her heart fluttered inside her, despite all her efforts to stay calm. It would be all right. She’d be talking to the Authority in a minute. She’d tell them everything. It would be all right….

  The woman’s whole face creased into a frown, but then it cleared as she reached her decision. Hope joined the fear spreading up Teal’s heart. The info worker lifted her hand and beckoned—to the woman next to her, Teal thought.

  But it was one of the superiors who moved. Teal’s legs rooted her to the floor. Before she could force them to run, the superior was there, hand on his belt.

  “We’ve got a rogue,” said the woman, nodding at Teal. “Got through the checkpoint without processing. Better put her in holding until we can sort her out. She claims to be with the Authority, so don’t mess her up.”

  “No,” said Teal as the superior closed his gloved hand around her arm. “Listen. My name is Teal Trust. I used to live here. My father is a citizen of the Authority, and he retained his rights. That makes me Authority. You can check the records. Please.”

  “Your case will be thoroughly examined,” said the woman, but she wasn’t even looking at Teal anymore, and the superior’s pull was too strong to ignore. Her joints began to strain and Teal had to stumble along beside him.

  “Look,” she said desperately to the side of his helmet, which was all she could see. “I just want to get a message to them. I belong with the Authority.” She swiveled her head back and forth, trying to get someone, anyone, to listen to her. “I’m not a stationer, not really, not anymore. I just want…” Two people strode through the directorate bulkhead. One was a multibadged individual, some station official, but the other wore Authority blue and commander’s braid.

  “Commander!” Teal lunged for the woman and the superior yanked her back, almost popping her arm out of joint. “Please! I’m Authority! My Dad, I’m—I’m one of yours, please, Commander!”

  Pain shot through every nerve in Teal’s body, jolting her off her feet. She sagged toward the floor, her head spinning, but the superior hoisted her up with a rough arm around her shoulders.

  “Commander Poulos?” said the woman behind the s
hatterproof. “She says she’s with you.”

  Yes, yes, Teal wanted to say, but her mouth wouldn’t move. She wasn’t even sure her tongue was in her mouth anymore.

  The commander looked her up and down and then looked into her eyes for a long time. “You’re Authority? What’s your city?”

  Teal concentrated and was finally able to make her mouth work. “Atlantis.”

  “Atlantis?” The commander frowned. “What are you doing over here?”

  “I was born here, but…” The commander’s face grew distant and Teal felt her hopes plunge. “My Dad’s city is Atlantis. His name is Trust. Varish Trust. He’s a shipper.”

  The man beside her—the station director, Teal realized with a start— frowned at the commander. “Beleraja…”

  The commander sighed. “I know, but if she’s from a shipper’s family, I’ve got to take the plea.” The director looked startled and the commander just shook her head. “There are some things that don’t go away.” The director did not look convinced and Teal’s heart plummeted. But the commander tried again. “Can I use your auxiliary office to run a check?”

  The director turned to study Teal. “All right,” he said. “We should find out who we’re dealing with here, I suppose.” He sized up the superior, who was still holding on to Teal’s arm. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I will take her under my supervision.”

  “With respect, Director—”

  The director held up one hand to cut the superior off. “You will, however, escort us to my office and remain outside until you are dismissed.”

  The superior relaxed visibly at this and let go of Teal’s arm. She couldn’t help but notice, however, his hand went straight to his taser and stayed there.

  Both the commander and director turned away then and started walking her into the depth of the directorate offices. Her heart fluttering high in her throat, Teal followed.

  The station director’s offices were a lot smaller than Teal could ever have imagined. There was just a desk, some chairs, and four video walls displaying a dizzying array of images from all sections of the station. The director touched a spot on the desk and the walls went instantly black.

  Director Shontio sat down behind his desk, folding his chapped red hands and resting them on its smooth surface. Commander Poulos motioned Teal to a side door. Throat tight and hands cold, Teal followed her into the next room. This one was even smaller than the director’s public space, and it only had one chair, but it did have a comm terminal.

  The commander sat herself at the code board. The motion lit the wall screen. “You said his liege city is Atlantis?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Teal came to stand beside Commander Poulos, her palms sweating. She couldn’t believe it. The commander was going to send a message. She was going to find Dad. “How long is it going to take?”

  “First I’m going to see what records our ship has on him.” Commander Poulos’s hands moved across the keys, entering a series of commands too quickly for Teal to follow. “We keep pretty good track of the family trees.” A data tree of ships and family names organized by city appeared on the screen. “Varish Trust, I think you said?”

  “Yes.” Her heart pounded so hard that her ears rang. After all this time, after all this trying, she would find him. She would send him a message, and he would come get her out of this. “My… my mother tried to find him….”

  “Your mother may have been working with old data. The comm lags for interstellar communication are incredible. There are so many leaks on the stations that most shippers prefer to carry hard data to each other by hand.” Her mouth twitched, as if she were trying to decide whether to smile or frown. “We’ve recently had an update here, however.”

  Commander Poulos’s hands moved again. Fresh trees flitted across the screen as the station’s comptroller searched its files and Commander Poulos discarded them before Teal could even properly read them. Then the screen stilled.

  “You found him?” Teal gripped the back of Commander Poulos’s chair, but she couldn’t make her eyes read the words in front of her.

  Commander Poulos scanned the display. “It’s him,” she said softly, swiveling the chair so it would be easier for Teal to see past her.

  Teal leaned forward, resting her hand against the edge of the board. At the top of the screen she read:

  Varish Trust

  Ship’s mechanic aboard the Imperial. Blood son of Jask Trust and Teal Aramant. No official ship family. Jumped ship in orbital port of First Home (coordinates listed). Citizenship and all voting privileges revoked for dereliction and desertion. Last reported residence Athena Station of Pandora (coordinates listed), reap-plied for citizenship renewal upon joining Tuskay ship caravan at age 43. Found dead of alcoholic overdose and brawling injuries in orbital port 4 of Cayman’s Stop at age 44.

  No. No. No. Teal swallowed hard, reading the words over, hoping they’d change and knowing they never would.

  Found dead of alcoholic overdose and brawling injuries.

  Found dead…

  “I’m sorry,” said Commander Poulos.

  Teal’s knees began to shake. “He left us,” she murmured.

  “Here, sit.” Commander Poulos pushed on her shoulders, and she found the chair under her.

  “He left us to go get drunk and die.” Hot red anger flooded her heart and head. “Bastard!” she screamed, slamming both fists against the screen. “You bastard! You left us to get drunk and die! You left us down there! You killed Mom, you pissing, drunk bastard!”

  She fell back, tears turning the world to a blur of colors and her own sobs drowning out all other noises. Commander Poulos tried to put her arms around Teal, but Teal shoved her away. She bowed her head into her hands and sobbed and screamed until her throat burned and she had no more tears inside her.

  The sound of Teal Trust’s sobs followed Beleraja as she returned to Shontio’s main office.

  “Sounds like someone else got bad news,” he said softly, gesturing toward the door as it closed.

  Beleraja dropped into one of the office chairs. A chill ran through her. What more could be happening? “What do you mean?”

  In answer, Shontio reached out and touched a command key on his desktop. A section of wall screen lit up to show a thunderous Father Mihran. “Since you do not choose to acknowledge my call, Director…” He dragged out the title. Surprise sped up Beleraja’s heart. She had never heard Father Mihran talk like this. “I will leave you this message. A fugitive named Teal Trust has either lately arrived or will shortly arrive on Athena Station. You will institute a search for her at once, and when you find her you will return her immediately. If I do not hear from you on this matter within one week, we will have to assume that she is being harbored aboard Athena in violation of the treaty your ancestors signed with mine.”

  The message cut off and the screen faded to black.

  “What did she do?” Beleraja croaked. Her mouth seemed to have gone dry.

  Shontio touched his swollen knuckles gently, as if trying to gauge whether the arthritis had gotten worse in the last few minutes. “Does it matter?” he said softly. “They want her back. Badly. At the very least she got up here under a set of false passes and a fake ID, a practice which is illegal on both ends of the pipe. Something Father Mihran was quick to remind me of.”

  Beleraja gazed straight to the closed inner door. “Are you going to give her up?”

  “When is our first wave getting here?”

  Beleraja bowed her head. “It could be tomorrow. It could be in as long as two weeks. Calculating relative times when making hyperspace jumps is”—she waved her hands—“difficult.”

  “Then I’m going to give her up.”

  Distress tightened Beleraja’s face. She had gotten used to thinking of people in groups. A few thousand needed to be in this place, at this time, to perform this set of tasks. At that same time, another thousand would be needed over here to perform this other task. She’d forgotten to think of those thousa
nds in terms of the individuals that comprised them, single human beings being displaced, hurt, or ruined by all these schemes—her invasion, the Pandorans’ cure, the Authority’s desperate attempt to maintain the status quo. Beleraja had forgotten them all, until she’d seen Teal Trust’s own plans fall to ashes in front of her eyes.

  “Shontio, we don’t know what they’ll do to her down there. We’re almost ready to start. Our people are on their way….”

  “But they are not here yet.” Shontio got up and circled his desk. “And there are not going to be nearly enough of them when they do get here.”

  “So, we start early. We shut down the cable, we take over the satellites. We’re going to do it anyway.” She ran her hand through her hair. “And I am sick of waiting.”

  “And we run out of food two weeks earlier than we have to because you got impatient,” Shontio said. “No, Bele. The girl has got to go back.”

  “And if the fleet gets in tomorrow?”

  “Then we pull her right back up the pipe.” Shontio’s face twisted, and Beleraja thought she saw tears. “We are not going to be able to do this without casualties. You were the one who pointed that out to me.” He touched his knuckles again. “If you want, I’ll tell her. I ran her name through our records. It turns out she’s originally one of mine.”

  “No.” Beleraja stood up. “I’ll tell her. I have a feeling that delivering bad news is something I’m going to have to get very used to.”

  When Teal managed to look up again she was alone in the little office. A cup of water had been left on the edge of the comm board, along with a clean white towel.

  Teal was surprised at how steady she was as she got to her feet. She wiped her face dry on the towel and drained the cup in one gulp. She felt… still, dry. Dad was dead. He’d been dead for years. He wasn’t even really an Authority citizen. He was just dead.

  “Teal?” Someone knocked on the door.

  “Yes?” She turned her head. Commander Poulos stepped through the threshold.

  “Are you all right?”

  She nodded.