Upon Stilted Cities - The Winds of Change

by Michael Kilman

  From behind them, Zelda and Jenny laughed all over again.

  Through fits of laughter, Zelda said, “Frank.... That... was the funniest shit.... I’ve ever seen.”

  “Yeah,” said Jenny. She was laughing so hard that Jose wondered how in the hell she was breathing. “Frank, you and Jose... you both... oh, gods... you both looked like you were... doing some kinda... some kinda choreographed dance... IN HUMAN SHIT.” Then both women were laughing so hard they doubled over.

  Frank’s face, still serious, looked at Jose, then back at the girls, then down at himself to survey the mess. Then, Frank pirouetted and waved his arms in the air, and Jose could see the grin spreading up the side of his face under the mask.

  “Like this, ladies?” said Frank. Frank’s big belly jiggled as he danced around for a moment and the women let out such hard gales of laughter they lost their balance. Then, Frank danced a little closer to them, grabbed both and threw them into the sewage.

  Quickly, both women rolled over and sat up. Both looked angry. They stared at each other for a moment, then at Frank.

  “What the hell, Frank?” asked Zelda.

  Jenny said, “Yeah Frank, seriously, why did you do that?”

  Frank gave a deep bow, one that Jose would not have thought possible given the size of his stomach. “All part of the performance, ladies. It's one of those interactive ones, like the Uppers like."

  The women looked at each other again for a moment and then both roared with laughter all over again. Even Jose chuckled to himself now.

  Frank reached up and put the grate back on, and one last time, he slipped and fell in the sewage.

  2.

  Zelda groaned and put her head in her hands. “I hate Decon. How much time is left, AI?”

  “There are 30 minutes remaining in the decontamination cycle.”

  They all sat naked inside of several alcoves in the floor filled with a mix of clear chemicals. Some of those chemicals were like the alcove mixtures, without all the anti-aging benefits. It hadn't taken security long to realize that people would cover themselves in sewage to get access to the anti-aging properties of the alcoves, and so they had been re-engineered.

  Steam punctuated the air, but it wasn’t just steam. Jose knew that there were several chemical agents in the air to prevent any kind of bacterial infection.

  Jose tried not to stare at Jenny, but she had a nice body. He kept finding himself averting his eyes and Jenny, on several occasions, took notice and smiled. Even after all these years of Coed Decontamination, he felt uncomfortable.

  Jenny said, “So Frank, can you explain the biorecycler system to me one more time? I am still having a hard time understanding why in the hell we don’t just eject everyone’s shit out of the bottom of the city.”

  “It’s like this, Jen. The food system isn’t totally sustainable, but it’s damn close. The machine that I manage is called the deatomizer, which is the first part of the biorecycler. It breaks down any kind of organic matter and turns it into raw material. Then the raw material goes through the assembler, that’s what Zelda monitors, and turns that raw organic material into some kind of algae sludge. Don’t ask me how it does that; I just work here.”

  There was a brief chuckle from everyone.

  “Anyway, people shit and piss a lot. All that’s good raw material for the biorecycler.”

  Jenny asked, “Wow, so basically we are all eating our own waste?”

  Zelda said, “Nah, by the time it goes through the system it’s all just algae. There are several huge storage tanks down in the bottom of the bedrock of the city where it’s grown.”

  “Well, but what if the algae runs out?” asked Jenny.

  Frank said, “It would if we just used human waste. Obviously, when food goes through our bodies, some of it gets absorbed, so it’s not a perfect system. That’s where all the rooftop gardens and Central Park come in.”

  Zelda said, “We get the scraps after the Uppers take all the good stuff.”

  Jenny said, “What do you mean, scraps?”

  Frank said, “Well you know how expensive fresh food is, right?”

  Jenny nodded, and Frank continued. “Well, I ain’t never had a fresh apple in my life, not one that the food dispensers didn’t print out for me, anyway. But after the apple trees are pruned, or all the weeds are removed, or the corn is shucked, all that excess plant matter is shoved down into tubes located in each of the 17 districts around the city, remember there are 17 facilities like ours around the place. All that plant waste leads down to one of the sanitation departments where it’s all broken down and sent into the algae growth pits.”

  “And?” asked Jenny.

  “And,” said Frank, “there’s always plenty of plant waste. Every time they mow the lawn in Central Park? Raw material. Every time someone pulls weeds out of their garden? Raw material. Every time someone doesn’t finish their meal? Raw material. Get the picture now, Jen?

  “Yeah, I think I do. But there’s one more thing.”

  Jose knew what this question was before Jenny even asked it, and by the sour expression on Frank’s face, he also knew. It was the question of every recruit once they grasped the biorecycler’s system.

  “I heard a rumor—"

  Zelda cut her off. “It’s not true.”

  “No? What about the missing people? What about the missing bodies?”

  Frank grimaced, “We don’t know. We hear the rumors too, but I can tell you in the last 60 years I’ve been down here, I ain’t seen nothing that would even hint that human beings are going into the biorecycler.”

  Zelda, whose words were icy, said, “I’ve been down here a hundred and eighteen years now. And I’ve never seen nothing. But there ain’t no doubt in my mind that some people disappear. Seen it myself. One of my nieces just vanished one night, no one’s ever found her.”

  “The Runnercore?” asked Jenny.

  Zelda shook her head. “Nope. The girl was only nine. They don’t ship anyone off to the Runnercore ‘til they’re at least 16. They got to be strong enough to man those metal suits. But something’s going on. Some of us... some of us think they're doing experiments... that maybe that old architect has gone crazy or something. But my niece, she disappeared twenty years ago, and nothing, no sign of her anywhere.”

  “What about... Recycled Runners?” Jose could hear the hesitation in Jenny’s voice. No one liked to talk about Recycled Runners. No one liked to cross paths with one. There was something about their cold dead eyes that terrified everyone, and on the few TV programs that ran on the vidscreens, they were still the subject of many modern horror movies.

  Zelda shrugged, “Still got to be big enough to man the suits, but... if they were experimenting on them for a while first...”

  Jose felt sick and wanted them all to change the subject. But as usual, he had no way of communicating while in Decon. He couldn’t bring in his pad of paper because it would fall apart by the time they got out.

  Besides, the one he had brought with him was ruined, and his spare waited in the locker room. It seemed though that everyone felt the same way, because no one said anything for the remainder of Decon. Instead, they all watched the countdown clock in bright, fluorescent letters glaring against the steam and the moisture in the air. It said that only ten minutes remained.

  Jose snuck another peek at Jenny, but when he did, he realized that she had been sneaking a peek at him. She blushed and turned her head quickly and repositioned her body almost as if to say, feel free to take a good, long, hard look.

  Jose didn’t understand what she saw in him that was so attractive. He was only 165 centimeters tall, with short scraggly hair, dark skin, and a patchy beard. There was nothing special about his looks.

  Jose couldn’t help staring a little. Jenny looked remarkably like Liza, a girl from his youth who he had loved dearly. A girl that, because of his cowardice, he had lost to the Runnercore. She was someone he thought of every day and dreamt of most nights. Now there
was a living reminder of his guilt, of his role in the uprising, and she was sitting naked less than two meters away.

  3.

  After decontamination, Jose, Frank, Jenny, and Zelda left the chamber and walked up the metallic winding staircase that led to street level.

  “I got one,” said Zelda. Her voice echoed and boomed as they walked up the stairs. “Why do you think that some of them Uppers go bald?”

  Frank groaned. “You’ve told us that one a hundred times, Zelda.”

  “Yeah, ‘cause it’s still funny. Besides, I don’t think I’ve told Jenny this one yet.”

  Frank waved his hand and gestured her to finish.

  “They go bald cause they get too close to the shield and burn their heads.” Zelda was the only one who laughed. Frank rolled his eyes. Jenny looked confused, but Jose smiled and nodded.

  “I don’t get it?” Jenny said.

  “Shield’s made of some kind of solar fusion energy or something. Don’t ask me how it works, but people used to say you could get a sunburn if you got too near it. Mostly people stay away from it now. You touch that thing; ya get zapped. Only the maintenance workers would really know. It’s an old joke,” said Frank. He scratched his head. “Probably as old as the shield itself.”

  “Come on, Frank,” said Zelda. “You got to admire the classics.”

  They reached the top of the stairway and the sound of their feet on the concrete punctuated the tunnel that led up into the evening air. Rambling echoes died in the open. The evening light of the EnViro Shield still glowed with the excess radiation of the day. The glow would fade shortly, but it extended twilight several hours.

  Jenny said, “I always love this time of night after the sun’s gone. It’s so beautiful, don’t you think, Jose?” She was smiling at him. It was a warm, inviting smile that seemed to say, come a little closer, I don’t bite; unless you want me to.

  Jose nodded, his nerves jumping and kicking around in his stomach. He swallowed hard and tried not to think of her naked body in Decon, a losing battle.

  Frank said, “Well, ladies and gents. Time for us to part ways, huh? Hey Jose, what are you and Linda doing this weekend?”

  Jose shrugged.

  “Well, you should come over, Sally and I are having a few people over for dinner on Saturday, and we thought that you and Linda would like to join us.”

  Jose nodded and started to write something down, but Frank stopped him. “Just ask Linda and have her call us up.”

  Jose nodded again.

  “You ladies are welcome as well,” said Frank.

  Jose almost frowned, but he noticed that Jenny was looking at him and so he restrained any expression. Was she flirting with him? If so, why? She knew he had a wife. She knew he had a son her age. Still, despite how uncomfortable it made him, there was something flattering about having someone young and beautiful giving you a little attention.

  “No go for me, Frank,” said Zelda. “I’m pulling a few extra hours this weekend to cover for Michael.”

  “Michael?” said Frank. “What’s that lazy bastard doing taking more time off?”

  “Who knows, but I could use the extra credits, anyway. Mary wants us to retire in the Lower Mids, and we’ve almost scraped together enough cash to bribe a sponsor up on level 12. I figure if I work my ass off for the next five years or so, we might just be able to pull it off. And since Mary wants us to adopt, we can get that voucher to waive the sponsorship fee, though the bribe’s still gonna cost us.”

  “Well, don’t forget us little guys down here when you make it up to the Mids,” said Frank. He was full of big tooth grins; his massive jovial stomach jutted forward. “What about you Jenny? You coming this weekend.”

  “Sure, I think so.”

  Her voice was even like Liza’s. It was like honey. Jose had remembered how when he had heard Liza sing once; his whole body had tingled. He wondered if Jenny could sing like that.

  Frank said, “Alright kiddos, see you all Monday.”

  Jose nodded, turned, and walked up the street toward his house. After a few moments, he turned back to see if Jenny was still standing there. She was, and when she saw him looking she smiled and waved. He felt his face flush just a little as he gestured a quick wave back. He turned and kept walking.

  Why had he waved back? What was wrong with him? He was assuming this girl had some kind of crush on him, but she was friendly like that to everyone. He loved Linda, loved his son Marcus and wouldn’t trade them for anything, would he? The honest answer to that was uncomfortable. He swallowed hard and tried to push it back down, but the image of Liza laughing at one of his stupid jokes pressed against him. Even after decades, there was no escaping Liza, no escaping Aaron, no escaping the uprising. He had lost so much. His courage had withered like a grape in the sun, and now, he was just a dried-up old raisin. He moved the tiny stub of where his tongue had once been and brushed it against his molars. When most of his tongue had been removed, so had most of his heart. It was Linda who had been there for him after. Linda was a girl who had always orbited Jose but never made direct contact.

  But after losing his parents, Liza, Aaron, and his ability to speak, Linda had swooped down and saved him from himself. She fed him, nursed him back to health, and he loved her for it. But there was always guilt there because as much as he cared for Linda, she wasn’t Liza.

  Jose turned the corner, and the sound of his footsteps echoed against the concrete of the buildings. He was alone, and he had become painfully aware of that fact. He thought of muggers, thought of dealers, but mostly he thought of security and what they had done to his friends and family.

  Jose glanced up at the glow of the EnViro shield. The purple and orange of the shield cascaded down into every window on the Upper levels of the city. The shadows of the tall buildings cast themselves on him, plunging him into intermittent darkness as he passed through each shadow in turn. A few stars were peeking through the shield now, but only just a few. He put his hands in his pockets and lowered his head as he walked several more blocks.

  “Hey, you, stop!” cried a voice behind him.

  Fear spiked. Jose felt his heart beating hard. Slowly, Jose turned and saw three security officers approaching him. The memory of the night they had taken Liza flashed. Fear screamed in his ears so loud that he couldn’t hear the voice of reason. Instead, Jose ran. He ran as hard and fast as he could.

  It wasn’t fast enough.

  In a few moments, one of the security guards grabbed him and tackled him. The security officer put his knee hard into Jose’s back. A sharp pain filled Jose every breath.

  “Hey buddy, what are you running from, got something to hide?”

  Jose couldn’t respond, his arms were pinned down, and now the other two security guards were standing around him.

  The man pressed his knee harder into Jose’s back. “I asked you a question. Why did you run away?”

  Jose wanted to say something, but there was no way to communicate. He needed his notepad in his front breast pocket. The concrete scraped his cheeks and the SO pressed harder.

  The SO leaned forward and spoke slow, clear words in Jose’s ear. He could feel the man’s breath. “I said, why the fuck did you run?”

  The pain in his back overwhelmed him and Jose, for the first time in a long time, tried to speak. Nothing came out that any of the SOs would understand.

  “You mocking me?” There was a relief of pressure on his neck, and he lifted his cheek to try and communicate. Something hard hit the back of Jose’s head, and he felt his nose slam against the concrete. Blood trickle down the front of his face. Jose shook his head back and forth, trying to tell the SO that he wasn’t mocking him.

  “Alright Gary, cuff him and turn him over, we’ll have the AI do a facial recognition scan on him,” one of the other security officers said.

  But Gary only pressed his knee harder into Jose and smacked the back of his head a few more times, slamming Jose’s face into the concrete. “Little shit
head. It’s always the dark-skinned ones down here that are causing trouble. You fellas ever notice that?”

  There was silence for a moment. “Uh... Gary... I think you better cuff him and take a breather, huh? Luke and I can handle this.”

  But Gary didn’t move. “It was a piece of shit like this down here that mugged my son a few weeks back. Beat the shit out of my son. He was in the alcove for three days recovering.”

  Jose felt a yanking sensation at the back of his head and Gary, the guard on top of him, pulled his hair so hard that Jose thought his neck would snap. Jose felt something stir inside of him. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Rage woke. It swelled through the whole of Jose’s body. He thought of Liza and Aaron, of the failed uprising, of the loss of his tongue. It all merged into one emotion.

  “I should make a fucking example out of someone like you,” said Gary.

  “Hey, Gary. I think that’s enough, cuff him, will ya?” The other SO’s voice was a little more stern.

  Gary let go of Jose’s head and shoved him one more time. On impact, Jose’s rage exploded outward. He thrust his whole body upward, knocking the SO off his body. He stood and knocked Gary to the ground. Both SOs took a few steps back, stunned at what was happening. He kicked Gary in the side as hard as he could. Then, coming to their senses, the other two security officers moved in to restrain him, but both were caught so completely off guard that Jose landed a few punches on both of them before they could do anything.

  Jose made a loud piercing guttural noise and struck with fist and foot at anything that came near him. He didn’t care what happened now; his rage craved blood. He felt a deep, searing need to destroy the man who had pinned him and he turned again, kicking and screaming at the man on the ground.

  Then he felt a blow to the side of the face and a sharp metallic pain in the side of his arm. The taser’s electricity worked its way up to his brain, and Jose could feel the sensation wrack his entire body just before everything went black.