by David Coy
Eddie was on the brink of sleep when he heard the voice at the window.
“Eddie,” the voice said in a whisper. “Eddie Silk. Hey. Wake up!"
“Wake up, asshole,” another voice added.
“Don’t call him that,” the first voice said in an apparent desire to protect.
“Well, he is one.”
“Eddie. It’s Mike. Hey.”
Eddie recognized the voice. His first impulse was just to bury himself in the sheets.
“Eddie,” Mike said, a little more persistent. “Hey. Wake up.”
Eddie figured they’d just keep at him until he answered, so he stood up and put his head close to the window. On barrels stood Mike and Peter Ho, dressed in net suits. Mike was smiling at him.
“Hi,” Eddie said.
“Hi,” Mike said. “We saw them bring you in this morning. You’re a regular outlaw, mister.”
“Yeah. I’m an outlaw. Look at me.”
“They say that nurse and the guy you’re with are killers,” Peter said.
“Maybe, I don’t know about that. They've treated me all right.”
“They say they blew the heads off two guys and stole a shuttle,” Peter went on. “Is that true?”
“Don’t know about that either.”
“Boy, you don’t know much, do you?” Peter said.
“Nope,” Eddie replied.
Peter tapped Mike on the arm with the back of his hand. “I’m gettin’ outta here. You can talk to this outlaw if you want. See ya later.” He jumped down from the barrel and trotted off.
Eddie just stared off at the jungle. Mike scratched at the side of the shelter with a finger. “Joan was worried about you,” he said.
“Can’t help that, now can I?”
“Nope. Guess not,” Mike said.
Eddie didn’t know what to say next. All he could think about was how Mike was going to look getting down from the barrel with his crippled leg—the leg he made crippled. He didn’t want to see that. He could easily turn away when the time came, but he’d still see it in his mind. He wanted to say something, but the words didn’t come.
“I got that infection that killed Geary.” Mike said it like he was showing Eddie a good scar he’d earned. “That nurse in there saved me. The other lady, too. It hurt some for a while, but its okay now. He stomped his bad foot lightly on the barrel top. “See, it works,” he said and smiled.
“Yeah,” Eddie said.
“I don’t even mind it now.”
Eddie nodded his head and stared past Mike into the noisy jungle.
“The guys call me clubfoot,” Mike said. “I don’t mind.”
Eddie’s mind reeled. He was so sorry. If he hadn’t sent Mike into the jungle that night, Mike'ud be perfect. He’d be the perfect kid he was supposed to be if he hadn’t lied to him and made him do his dirty work. Mike had trusted him, admired him. Now here he was, all eager and friendly and forgiving as always.
“I’m . . . a . . .” Eddie began.
“Joan was saying she might be able to speak up for you and maybe get you off.”
Eddie swallowed. He wasn’t sure that’s what he wanted. “Tell her to save it,” he said.
“Huh?”
“Tell her to save it. I don’t want to get off. I’d like to go back to Earth anyways. I got family there.”
Mike knew Eddie had no family and everybody knew there was no Earth to go back to.
“There’s lots of work to get done, Eddie. They say we’re moving the whole settlement to the ocean. We could sure use your help. Everybody says so. Wish Eddie was here to do this, wish Eddie was here to do that, they say,” and he smiled. “You sure do have lots of things waiting for you to get done.”
Eddie cheered for a moment, but the feeling went out like a snuffed candle.
“Well, I gotta go,” Mike said. “I’ll come back tomorrow night if you want.”
Eddie nodded slightly.
“Okay,” Mike said; and before Eddie could look away, he jumped down from the barrel to the ground. His weak leg gave in a little when he hit, but he kept his balance. He turned around and looked up at Eddie with a big grin.
“See? Didn’t hurt,” he said and limped away.
Eddie went back to bed and curled up into a tight ball. He’d never felt so alone or so ashamed. The night felt oddly cold. He lay awake and shivered and thought nothing. He slept some in spite of his shivering and woke just at dawn and watched as the sun cast a dull red line along the top of the window. He watched the red line broaden and brighten as the sun climbed higher, and the jungle’s sounds, like his thoughts, died to nothing. Finally, when the world was quiet once more and the heat from the sun had warmed the wall, he rose from the bed. He was glad the night was over. He hoped Mike would come back the next night so they could talk.
* * *
Donna didn’t seem too angry with anybody anymore, and she even smiled a little when Rachel poured the coffee. Things were back to normal as far as Eddie could see. They had a big breakfast that John and Rachel made.
“So what’s it going to be, Rachel?” Donna asked. “How long is Jacob going to keep us here?”
“A very long time,” she said without much emotion.
Donna held her tongue. She smiled stiffly.
The guards brought food every other day, and plenty of it. They would knock gently on the door as if they were interrupting. Then the door would open, and one of the guards would unceremoniously carry in a big box full of meals and drop it on the floor.
They weren’t allowed outside except for one brief period every day to walk around, always under guard. The shelter was a good distance from the rest of the settlement, and they were kept to the jungle side so they couldn’t tell much about what was going on in the settlement itself. Flanked by at least two guards, they’d sometimes walk up to the jungle’s edge and down a ways. Then a guard, like a slow, two-legged herding dog, would turn them back toward the shelter. For the most, all they did during these exercise sessions was walk and kick at stuff on the ground. Sometimes, John would do some jumping jacks and push-ups, huffing and puffing loudly, just to mock the whole thing. Sometimes, Rachel would find an interesting "something," usually organic, to pick up and examine. At times, when Donna was feeling especially nervy, she’d pop off questions to the guards she knew wouldn’t—or couldn’t—answer, like, “When do we get to go home?” or “How’s your boss, Jacob?” She never got an answer, of course, and she’d drift close to Rachel with a snotty look and say, “Then kiss my ass," under her breath. They’d both giggle.
The little guard who ogled Rachel was one of the regulars on these outings. He kept leering at her like he was going to eat her. Rachel ignored him, but it got under John’s skin. “Hey, why do you keep gawking at her like that?” he demanded angrily.
The smirk dropped off the guard’s face.
“It’s okay, John,” Rachel said. “Never mind.”
“It’s not okay. The guy’s a dick,” he said loudly.
The guard just glared at John but didn’t say anything. He also stopped gaping at Rachel.
“That was weird,” Donna said when they got back inside.
It puzzled all of them. “I thought he’d at least whack me with his rifle butt,” John said with a little grin. “I guess I must have scared the shit out of him.”
Rachel had an idea why there had been no retribution, but kept it to herself. It was obvious to her that Jacob had told the guards to take good care of them. He wanted them healthy. It was that simple. She didn’t have to tell the others her reasoning. They figured it out themselves. The next day on their walk, Donna decided to give it a real test. She was in one of her foulest moods and the timing was just right.
As they walked along the jungle’s edge, she ambled over to within a meter of the little guard. She crossed her arms, waited a step or two, and then cocked her head at him. “Do you jack off?” she asked bluntly and loud enough for all of them to hear.
John groan
ed inwardly. Rachel turned away toward John with her eyes and mouth pinched tight against the impending explosion.
“I’ve heard it said that if a man’ll lie about that, he’d lie about anything,” she continued, unabashed. “So? Do ya?”
The little guard cocked his head right back and ran his tongue around the inside of mouth before he spoke. “Every day,” he said, without blinking.
“I guess that makes you an honest man, then,” Donna said, beaming too broadly.
“Not really,” he said. “I learned to lie at an early age.”
The other guard chuckled.
“So, every day, huh?” Donna went on.
“Almost.”
“No pussy, huh? Things pretty tough around here, pussy-wise?”
“Yep.”
“Better not let Jacob find out you’re jacking off,” she said.
Chuckles.
“Right hand or left hand?” she asked.
“Both hands,” he said. “You know what they say about short guys.”
“Now there’s a lie!” she said.
They all had a good laugh over it. The next day, the walk felt a little more fun, and the guards let them stay outside a lot longer. Within a few days, they knew the guards' names and were having something resembling conversations with them. The rules of conduct for the prisoner-guard relationship are universal. At first the conversations were awkward, but over the course of days, they became more and more relaxed. The guards, it turned out, didn’t know much, or at least pretended not to. They were soldiers, mercenaries, they said often, recruited from Earth and under contract to the Sacred Bond. As long as the Council was in charge, they’d follow orders, they said, and they didn’t make it a habit to ask too many questions. Some tidbits did come through, mostly rumors about this or that, but nothing they could really use. The idea that drifted to them the most often, frequently through veiled innuendo, was that the Council and most of the soldiers were one and the same and that the Sacred Bond hadn’t just hired mercenaries, but had recruited ruthless men and women, or trained them to be so, from their own ranks, sometimes from their own families, to enforce the Council’s will with the force of arms. John believed it without blinking. He said the guards were too dedicated to be anything other than blood kin to the ranks of the Bondsmen. “I doubt they’re doing this just for the money,” he said. “Some are maybe, but most of them are in it because they share the faith.”
Mike came to Eddie’s window every night and talked to him through the bars. Unlike the guards, Mike was a pretty good pipeline to the rest of the world, but his perspective was limited, too. Mike told Eddie everything about the big move or whatever else sounded important, and Eddie, in turn, would tell the others. Rachel asked Eddie if she could talk to Mike, but Donna said it was a better idea if just Eddie did that for now. Donna knew the talks with Mike were helping them both. Eddie was finally healing—a process that was very important to her.
They learned from Mike that the road to the sea was under construction and preparations were being made to start hauling things over by truck. They had dozens of trucks to do the job, and Joan said it would take them just a month or so to get most of the stuff moved over. Mike told Eddie he’d never been so busy and kept asking Eddie to get out and help them. That always made Eddie feel good.
Then one night Mike told Eddie that the road was done and the schedule was in place to start the move. When Eddie relayed the news, Donna wanted to talk directly to Mike. Serious questions needed answers right then, and Mike was the only way to get them. Mike would have to bring them a pad; the system had the answers—bulletins, schedules, notes. All the plans were in the system.
* * *
The next night they sat in Eddie’s room with the lights out, waiting for Mike.
“What time’s he usually get here?” Donna wanted to know.
Eddie checked his watch. “About now,” he said.
As if on cue, they heard Mike’s shuffling and grunting and a light bong sound as he climbed up on the barrel. They all stepped up on the bed and huddled around the window.
“Mike? I’m Donna Applegate. Do you remember me?”
“Are you kiddin’?”
“And this is Rachel and John.”
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“We have some questions for you, and we might want you to find out some things for us. Do you think you can do that?”
“I’d do anything for you ma’am,” Mike said.
“Call me Donna, okay?”
“Okay.”
“These are very important, Mike, and we need you to find the answers right away, if you don’t know them.”
“I’ll do everything I possibly stinkin’ can.”
“That’s good,” Donna replied, inwardly smiling at his complete willingness. “Now. Do you know why Jacob is moving the settlement?”
“Nobody knows that one.”
“Somebody must know,” John said.
“Everybody just guesses or makes things up,” Mike said. “People think Jacob is either crazy or some kind of super leader or something . . . a . . . a . . . what’s that thing . . . ?”
“A prophet?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah. They call him that,” Mike said.
“Mike?” Donna asked. “Is Jacob the one who's giving all the orders now?”
“He sure is,” Mike said. “Nothing starts or stops without a order from Jacob.”
Rachel lowered her head, shook it and chuckled. “When do they start moving things to the sea?” Donna asked.
“We start loading the warehouse stuff into the trucks tomorrow.”
“What’s the mood,” Rachel wanted to know. “What do the people say about the migration? Are they in favor of it?”
Mike thought it over. “Well, all the religious folks seem to like the idea as long as Jacob says it’s okay. The rest don’t like it. My boss hates the idea—almost everybody does—includin’ me. The guards don’t seem to mind too much. Nobody even knows what they’re moving into. It sounds pretty weird.”
“It is very weird, Mikey,” Rachel added. “Mike?" Can you get us a key to the door of this shelter?”
“Skip it, Mike,” Donna said sharply to Rachel. “He can’t do that.”
“Never hurts to ask,” Rachel came back in a whisper, and shrugging her shoulders.
“I wouldn’t know how to do that . . .”
“Forget it, Mike,” Donna said. “She was kidding.”
“How many Council members are there?” John asked.
“Five, I think,” Mike said.
“So Jacob is the main one now—the highest in rank?” John asked.
“That’s what I heard. He’s the boss.”
“Christ,” John said under his breath, “and he’s got a boner for the three of us.”
“A what?” Mike asked.
“Never mind,” John said. “Sorry.”
“Mike?” Donna asked. “There’s something we need you to do for us. It’s very important.”
“What?”
“It’s really important, Mike.”
“Okay.”
“Can you bring us a pad in good working order? It doesn’t have to be a new one.”
“I don’t know,” he replied tentatively, “I’d have to steal it.”
“Just borrow it,” John said. “You could just borrow it for us for a while.”
Mike thought it over. “I know where there’s one that nobody uses. I don’t think they’d mind if I got you that one for a while. I might have to ask, though.”
“No. No, don’t ask,” Donna said quickly. “You see, we don’t want anyone to know we have it.”
“Oh . . .” Mike said.
“Great,” Donna said. “That would be a big help. If we had a pad, we could find out for ourselves when everything was happening, and we wouldn’t need to depend on you so much for the answers, okay? And I promise we’ll give it back as soon as we’re done.”
“Okay.”
/> “Can you bring it tomorrow night?”
"I guess so.”
“Good.”
“Thanks, Mike,” John said.
“Yeah, thanks, Mike,” Rachel added her real gratitude.
“Well, I guess you two buddies want to talk some, so we’ll get out of here. We’ll see you tomorrow night, okay?”
“Okay.”
When they were in the hallway, Donna took Rachel by the arm. “Don’t ask him to take a risk like that again.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That key business. He can’t be skulking around trying to cop a key to the damned door.”
“Oh fuck it,” Rachel said disgusted. “I was just asking.”
“Well, don’t. You’ll get him killed.”
"Fine.”
“Good.”
“There’s no difference between that and making him steal the pad, anyways,” Rachel said to Donna’s back.
“Hey, we’re all going nuts. Let's just forget it. Okay?” John asked of the two women. He was right, of course. They were all going nuts.
That night John and Rachel made love. Under the hot sheets, they tied themselves with arms and legs and labored against those willing bonds until the sweat ran. They lost themselves in each other’s scent and touch and taste and forgot for a while where they were. In that mindless time and space and for the briefest of moments, dread died with a carnal gasp.
7
Soaking in boredom, they were perched atop the rig, which was now parked a few hundred meters west of the structure. The last thing they’d done before parking the behemoth was to level the ground in front of the entrance to make a staging area for the material as it came from the settlement.
“Who the hell are those guys,” Lavachek asked idly, looking over the activity below. “They look like doctors or something.”
