by Linda McNabb
They must have the wrong man, he told himself. He would just get one of the guards and tell them they had made a mistake. It shouldn't take long to sort this out.
“Guard... Guard...” he called through the bars. He listened as the echo died slowly, but no-one came.
“Keep it down,” came a hissed whisper from the next cell. “If you get the guards angry they will beat us.”
“Surely not. All I'm trying to do is tell them they've arrested the wrong man,” Roma replied, not really believing him but he did lower his voice a little.
“That's the best way to upset them,” the voice informed him. “They don't care if you're innocent... if you're here, you're guilty.”
“Guilty of what?” Roma demanded letting his voice rise a little in his confusion.
“Anything they say,” the sound of hopelessness in his reply said more than his words.
Roma sank back against the wall and massaged his temples. The State didn't make mistakes. It only punished those who deserved it so he must have done something to deserve being here. What could it be? Roma thought back to the events of earlier that day before he had been arrested.
He had left the Commrail a few stops early, as usual, and jogged around the business area. He did it every day to keep fit. Usually his friend, who also worked in the building came with him, but today he was alone. Keto had been transferred and was starting new hours today.
Roma had combined both of his hobbies this morning and had taken his camera along. He found the abandoned buildings at the back of the business district fascinating. Such an empty, quiet place in a busy sector like this seemed odd and he had finished off his film on them and intended to get them enlarged and put them on the wall at home. He had quite a few already of unusual scenes that could easily have been an entirely different planet.
He had been running late by the time he reached the State HQ building and when one of the juniors had offered to take the film to the developing lab for him he accepted gratefully and rushed up to his office. He was still late but as far as he knew it only meant a reprimand, not this.
So it must be one of the accounts he was working on. It was his job to do the calculations to decide how much certain departments within State HQ received each year. Perhaps he had done it wrong?
He was still going through the accounts in his mind when the sound of footsteps echoed down the dark narrow corridor. Roma strained to pick out the real steps from the echoes and he waited to see where they would stop. He had changed his mind about declaring his innocence. First he would find out what they were accusing him of. The footsteps stopped at the cell before his, where his whispering friend was.
“Who was making all the racket?” a voice demanded and before Roma could even think about owning up the guard spoke again. “It's not hard to tell who the trouble makers are.”
The man in the next cell made no attempt to deny it and Roma wondered why he would cover for someone he didn't even know. The key in the lock made a deafening echo but it faded as a new echo started. It sounded like something heavy landing on the ground and by the groan that followed it Roma knew it was his new friend being beaten.
“I've told you to keep quiet before Charat,” the guard's deep voice echoed. “It's your turn up in front of the adjudicator.”
Roma could tell by the scraping sound that Charat was being dragged up the corridor. It was his fault Charat had been beaten and he felt awful, but why had they punished the wrong man without making sure he was guilty?
It seemed like hours before he heard footsteps again and Roma held his breath as they came closer. Was he in for a beating as well? He stared at the floor in the corridor and saw a pair of shiny black shoes stop right outside his cell door. His heart was pounding and he kept his eyes cast downward as the door was unlocked and someone stepped inside.
“Come on Roma, it's time,” the voice wasn't rough and unkind and Roma instantly recognised it.
“Keto,” he jumped up with a delighted smile on his face and then frowned as the chains prevented him from moving very far. “I knew someone would realise a mistake had been made. You've come to get me out, thanks Keto.”
He held out his hands and Keto shook his head with a sad expression on his face. Keto released the chains from the pole but left them attached to Roma.
“I was transferred down here... I guess I did something wrong to lose rank like that....”
Roma's heart sank as he realised Keto was wearing a black guard’s uniform and the feeling of hopelessness that swept over him made his whole body feel heavy.
“I was surprised when I saw your name on the prisoner list. I asked to be the one to escort you to the adjudicator’s hall. Some of the others can be a little rough.”
Roma thought that had to be the understatement of the year, but his friends' next statement made Roma's mouth drop open.
“It was the least I could do considering we used to be friends before you became a thief.”
**
Time seemed to be going slower and slower back in the waiting room so when her father's name was finally announced she was almost glad. Not one of them had spoken since she came out and told her mother it hadn't been enough money to get him released.
Her mother seemed even more frail than usual and Kala wished she had bought them up a level last week. She would have had enough Marcs to do it then if she hadn't bought the satchel. Level Two's weren't dealt with by the adjudicator and as far as she knew they were never ever sent down a Level or offshore. Kala wasn't too sure what did happen to them, but it had to be better than this.
She looked at the, now empty, bright red satchel that had cost her family's freedom. She let it drop to the floor as she supported her mother and sister towards the sentencing door.
Inside the sentencing room there were three small benches and they took the only one left free. They had just sat down when her father and two other men were pushed roughly into the room from another door. Her father didn't look frightened or scared like the other two, he looked angry.
Another person came through the door a few seconds later but disappeared into the shadows before Kala could see who it was. She could tell it was a man by the heavy breathing and he sounded as if he had just been running.
Kala turned her attention back to her father and the two others who had just been brought to stand in front of the adjudicator’s bench. Kala barely heard the sentence that was passed on the other two who were quickly led away, followed by their families who had been on the benches.
“Roma Palent, your crime is a serious one. Theft from the State which provides you with everything you need cannot go unpunished but I am feeling lenient tonight...”
Kala's attention was briefly drawn to the shadows where the hidden man cursed.
“...so you and your family will be reclassified as Level Eight and I hope you have learnt your lesson.” The adjudicator banged his small wooden hammer on the bench.
“But he was supposed to go to Belgara!”
Kala heard the whisper from the shadows and wondered who it was that knew so much. They sounded very annoyed that he wasn't going.
“But I didn't take anything!” Roma threw off the arms of the guards that were trying to lead him away and one of them fell to the floor.
“So you haven't learnt your lesson,” the adjudicator sneered and raised his hammer again. “Make that Level Ten!”
The hammer banged down loudly and Roma immediately fell silent. He was led away by the guards and Kala urged her family to get up and follow.
“At least we'll all be together,” Petari said with a sigh and Kala shot her a quick look. She hadn't told her about Belgara so how did she know? Had she heard the man in the shadows too?
Kala glanced back to the shadows and this time caught a glimpse of him and burnt it into her memory. He was tall and very fat with a large unlit cigar sticking out of his mouth. She was going to find out who he was and why he had wanted her father gone.
Kala had no
time for a second look as they were hurried along by the guards. They followed Roma out the door and down a dimly lit corridor. The corridor had many doors off it and the guards seemed to randomly pick one and push them all through it. Each one led to yet another corridor that looked exactly the same as the last one.
After many corridors a blast of hot evening air rushed through a door that looked the same as all the others and they were pushed out into the night. Before Kala and her family had a chance to take more than a couple of steps they were sworn at by the guards and told to hurry up and get into the Hoverpod that was parked not far away.
They would have gone peacefully, but the guards seemed to delight in pushing them and making them fall so they could yell at them and drag them to their feet again. Alissa started to cry and Kala tried to comfort her, while Petari was clinging to Roma as if she was about to lose him again.
Kala was confused by the guards’ attitude. Didn’t Level Ten people deserve respect too? It reminded her of earlier that day when the man on the wall had been arrested by the guards. Was that today? It seemed like years ago.
**
Inside the Hoverpod there were no windows and no inside lights so they sat huddled together in the dark. Roma held his wife tightly as he wondered what it was exactly that they thought he had done. Keto had said he was a thief but what was he supposed to have stolen? He had given up thinking it was all going to be sorted out and he knew their life would never be the same again. The State System had failed and to Roma who lived and breathed for the State it was a terrible shock. The very foundations of his whole life now meant absolutely nothing.
The Hoverpod landed with a small bump a few minutes later and the rear door slid open. A small panel in the wall that divided them from the pilot opened, then a folded piece of paper was pushed through which fell to the floor.
“Get out,” the pilot ordered bluntly and Roma picked up the paper and led his family out of the Hoverpod. They had all barely set foot on the ground when the rear door slid shut and the Hoverpod took off.
“Where are we?” Alissa whispered and Roma looked around.
“I’m not sure honey.”
They were in the middle of a street but there was something different to the streets they were used to. The streetlights were out so it was hard to tell what it was.
Voices could be heard coming closer and Roma decided the best way to find out where they were was to ask someone. Roma frowned as the voices came closer and he heard they were having a very loud argument. Just as they came into sight Roma saw the moonlight reflect off what must be a knife that one of them was carrying. Quickly, he moved his family into a dark alleyway and hoped they hadn’t been seen.
It was three men and they were definitely having an argument that broke out into a fight right in front of the alley where Roma and his family were hiding. What was this place and what would happen if they were discovered?
CHAPTER THREE
It had been quiet for a few minutes before Roma dared to take a look out onto the street. The fight had moved off, and now the youths were nowhere in sight. What should he do now though? It didn't look as if it were safe to walk the streets at night but he didn't really want them sleeping in an alley either.
The houses in the street looked old and run down. They didn't have front gardens and they were all joined together. Roma looked closer at the one nearest to him and saw that they were made out of bricks. Roma knew from his interest in old buildings that bricks hadn't been used for over a hundred years. He began to examine the building closer and then reminded himself that he had other things to sort out at the moment.
Just down the street, a flickering light shining through a window showed that someone was still awake. There really wasn't a lot of choice so Roma walked quickly over to the front door and knocked softly.
At first there was no response and Roma knocked again, a little louder. Just as he had given up and was about to turn and leave the door opened. It only opened about three inches and Roma could see that it was heavily chained. A pair of suspicious brown eyes looked sideways around the door at him. The light escaping the door was dim and more yellow than white.
“What?” It was a woman's voice and although she gave the impression of unfriendliness Roma decided that it was probably fear.
“I'm looking for directions,” he held out the piece of recycled paper that the guard had given them and the woman's eyes lost a little of their hardness.
“Nowhere near here,” came the reply and she went to shut the door but Roma stuck his foot in the way.
“Please, I can't leave my wife and children out in the street all night. If you can tell me which way to go I can get them there,” he almost pleaded.
“Children? You have children out on the street at this time of night?” The woman sounded horrified and the chains on the doors were quickly removed and the door opened wider.
Roma saw the reason that the light was strange was because the woman was holding a candle. She was short and stooped over with age. Her face was heavily lined and her hands gnarled over with arthritis.
“Bring them in... “
“They're in the alley across the street,” Roma pointed behind him.
He hurried off to get his family while the woman nervously looked up and down the street from the relative safety of her doorstep.
Petari and his children needed no encouragement to leave the alley and Roma returned to the woman's doorstep only a minute later. Voices could be heard from the direction the youths had gone and they hurried through the door. Roma finally breathed a sigh of relief when the woman shut the door and engaged the six locks that looked sturdy enough to keep an army out.
“You can only stay till daylight.” The woman held the candle up high and pushed past where they all stood in the hallway. “I've no spare beds but there's an old mattress in the storeroom.”
She led them down the narrow hallway and into a small windowless room with stone walls and a stone floor. There were shelves on the walls but all of them were empty and in the flickering light Roma could see that they had a thick layer of dust on them.
“Don't have much use for a storeroom when there is nothing to store. By the way, I'm Fran.” She bustled around the room lighting a second candle, and handed it to a stunned looking Petari, before leaving and shutting the door behind her.
Roma took the candle from his wife and pressed her backwards down onto the mattress that lay in the corner. She lay down without protest and the children curled up either side of her. He was worried about Petari as she didn't seem to be taking in what was happening to them. Her eyes looked lifeless and her face showed no emotion at all. Maybe a good night’s sleep would make her feel better.
He crouched down against the corner of the room as the mattress wasn't big enough for all of them. He doubted that he could sleep anyway. He was very surprised to find himself being shaken awake after what seemed like only a few minutes.
“It's morning.” The woman looked sourly at the completely burned down candle. “On your way with you, it's safe outside now.”
Roma felt through his pockets, feeling terrible about wasting the woman's candle but he found nothing to give her. Kala came and sat next to him and slipped two hard round objects into his hand. He didn't know how she managed to come to have any Marcs, but right now he didn't care.
“Please let us pay you for your hospitality,” Roma held out one of the green Marcs and Fran's eyes immediately softened.
“We don't get many who come here with any Marcs on them,” Fran quickly took the offered disc and tucked it into the side of her shoe. “Can't be too careful around here ‘cause we've one or two pickpockets. Who wants breakfast?”
Fran's attitude had completely changed and Roma clutched the Marc that he had put in his pocket. It looked as though it would come in very useful.
They all sat around the old wooden kitchen table while Fran cooked up some eggs with herbs that smelled spicy and hot, and made Roma's mouth
water. Petari still hadn't spoken but Roma felt it was probably best to do nothing just yet. When they were settled in their new apartment she would come around.
“I didn't think there was any electricity,” Roma remarked.
“It comes and goes. Where's this paper of yours?”
Roma took it from his pocket and handed it to her. She read it again and then passed it back before commenting.
“It's an unspoken rule around here never to ask questions about anyone's past but you must have done something pretty drastic to be sent into the Level Ten district.”
“That's the problem, I don't know what I was supposed to have done,” Roma frowned as he read the paper again. “Where is Clover Downs? It doesn't sound too bad.”
“It's at the far end of the sector and all the Level Ten's live there. It's a tough life there but if you've any more of those Marcs you should get on all right.”
**
They had been walking for what seemed like hours in the hot sun. They had been laughed at when her father had asked where the comrail was. The streets were far from deserted, as they had been last night, and people sat on the doorsteps or milled around on the street corners. They watched silently as Kala and her family walked past. Children ran about in groups looking dirty and very skinny. Kala wondered why they weren't in school but decided against stopping any to ask them.
The houses that lined the dirty streets were all identical to the one where they had stayed the night with the exception of a few broken windows here and there. They wouldn't be able to find Fran's house again even if they wanted to. Eventually there was a definite change in the standard of housing. Instead of single level houses there were multi storied apartment blocks which looked about to fall down.
“Is this where we are going?” Alissa asked so softly that Kala barely heard her.
“No, Fran said it was past the tall buildings, this is Level Nine.” Kala picked up her little sister and wondered how anything could be worse than these buildings. There were less people on the streets here and the children didn't run. They looked too undernourished even to be walking.
