Flicker and Mist

by Mary G. Thompson

  The tunnel of air around us was perfection: we were ready to fly. Now, I thought, automatically signaling Hoof with my legs.

  She stopped.

  I kept going, almost over Hoof’s head, but I gripped with my legs and managed to stay on.

  It was not just us. Beside me, Porti’s beast was mooing. Porti herself was crumpled in a pile near her. Caster was clinging to his beast as I was to mine, while Orphos and Shrill were galloping in a circle. Orphos pressed his face against his beast’s back, trying to calm him.

  Caster and I jumped off our beasts as one and ran to Porti.

  “Porti,” Caster said, touching her shoulder.

  “I’m all right,” she said. She rolled over onto her back.

  Caster lifted one of her legs. “I don’t think it’s broken,” he said.

  “Nor do I,” she replied, sitting up slowly.

  I watched her rise carefully. She did not appear to be badly injured. We were all taught how to take a fall. She had managed to land most advantageously on the padding. Curse your thoughts, Myra, I told myself. You do not want to win because your best friend becomes a cripple.

  I reached out my hands to help her up, and she took them. She tested her weight on each foot and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Nothing’s broken.”

  “Glad to hear it,” said Orphos, who had brought poor Shrill under control. “And what, by the Waters, happened here?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Hoof just stopped.”

  “I saw nothing,” said Porti. “One second I was about to fly, the next I was on the turf.”

  “I didn’t see anything,” said Orphos, “but I heard something odd. It was as if there were too many beasts. The airflow felt like a full field.”

  “That’s it exactly,” said Caster. “It felt as if there were more of us.”

  “Perhaps there are invisible beasts now,” I said. I meant to make a joke, but neither I nor the others laughed.

  “Something was there, as sure as the ocean is wet, Myra,” said Orphos. “A purebred wetbeast doesn’t stop during the jump stretch for a flea.”

  “Perhaps not a flea,” said Caster, “but there must have been something. Perhaps it was a rabbit. It could have spooked Hoof, and then she spooked the others.”

  “Hoof would not be spooked by a rabbit!” I cried. “She is unflappable.”

  “Myra’s right,” said Orphos. “It was more than a rabbit.”

  Porti climbed back onto her beast. With her height, she needed no assistance, but she was obviously sore, I noticed with guilt. Caster helped me back on Hoof, and together, the four of us passed through the gate embedded in the barrier and rode toward the finish, which was back at the starting point—​the course made a large loop. But all was not as it had been. As we rode down the final stretch, Member Solis sped toward us, pulling Bricca by the hand.

  “Did you see it?” Bricca cried.

  “Did we see what?” I asked.

  “There was an invisible rider!” she said.

  Six

  “IF HE WAS INVISIBLE, THEN HOW COULD WE SEE HIM?” Orphos quipped.

  Impossible, I thought. A beast could not become invisible; the Ability was passed by blood from our Flicker Men ancestors. The Flicker Men might have been different from humans, but they were not so different that they could mate with a wetbeast. I nearly cringed at the thought, but I didn’t want to show that I knew so much about the Ability, so I said nothing.

  “There was plenty to see, Mr. Staliamos,” Member Solis snapped. “The turf was flying. Footprints were muddy from the moat. A voice called out something, though no one could tell what. He cut close enough to the Leftie boy to knock him over. The boy was cursing like a drunken guardsman.”

  I glanced over to the stone throw mound, where Nolan was lifting a stone out of his cart. He didn’t look over at us or break concentration as he tossed it; a fine, possibly record-breaking toss many yards into the distance. His parents now hovered at the edge of the arena floor, looking grim.

  “It’s true,” said Bricca. “Everyone saw it.” Indeed, the remaining spectators were all watching us intently, and there were fewer than before. No doubt word of the so-called invisible rider had spread all over the city.

  “Well, I guess the proof of female superiority will have to wait until another day,” said Porti.

  “Says the lady who landed on her face,” said Orphos.

  “What?” Bricca cried.

  “Don’t worry, I’m fine,” said Porti.

  “She got back up, didn’t she?” I said. I had to admire that. I wouldn’t have been able to mount unassisted after such a fall. “I’d like to see what you and your wild beast would have done, Orphos.”

  “I think we could use a nice cool-down ride. How about it, Myra?” said Porti.

  “Wonderful,” I said. I would much rather have continued to train, even with my greatest opponent, than deal with whatever had just happened. It might not have been an invisible beast, but it had been something. Sky would be on the radio even now, broadcasting speculation and rumor. Anyone who doubted the presence of Flickerkin would begin to believe.

  My mother and father were both home when I got there, a rare sight recently. They sat at the dining table, leaning their heads together as if it were each other’s thoughts they listened to and not the radio. My father was tall and thin, with dark hair only lightly streaked with gray, brown eyes, and a skin color I could achieve only when well baked by the sun. He towered over my mother even seated, and yet when they were together, they seemed as one.

  I started to head for my room so I wouldn’t have to hear the worst, but my father waved me over to the table.

  The Deputy was speaking again. “The reports from the arena today are indeed disturbing,” he said. “I don’t want to say too much while the investigation is ongoing. And let me be clear. The Council does not believe that New Heart City has been invaded by a Flickerkin enemy. Such talk is premature, and I encourage all citizens to remain calm.”

  “Premature,” my mother scoffed.

  “Rest assured that the Guard is conducting a thorough investigation. No one was seriously injured. It is likely that this was merely some kind of prank. But whatever happened, we will find out and punish those responsible.”

  “Isn’t it recorded that the uprising began in much the same way?” said Sky. “Those Lefties with the Ability were the first wave of a rebellion that took the lives of hundreds of Plateau People.”

  “Uprising,” said my mother. “Do they teach you these lies in school?”

  I shrugged. They indeed taught us that the Lefties had rebelled out of greed for the prezine in their mines, wanting it all for themselves, to sell at whatever exorbitant prices they demanded. Whereas my mother had taught me that they had fought for better working conditions and for freedoms Plats took for granted. My mother had also taught me that it was the Plats who had started the war by giving a group of striking miners the dip, something the Plat government denied.

  “. . . violent actions,” the Deputy was saying. “Whereas by all indications today’s incident was not violent but merely disruptive. There are so many differences between the two events that we should not even be speaking of them together.”

  “How long is this investigation going to take?” Sky asked. “How can we, the citizens of New Heart City, be sure of our safety?”

  “We are taking precautions,” said the Deputy. “Though, as I said, we find it highly unlikely that there was a Flickerkin rider on an invisible beast, we have taken steps to deploy more sensors. These sensors, as most of you know, emit a pulse of light that is invisible to the naked eye and yet, when it intercepts the body of a Flickerkin, makes the Flickerkin visible. Per the terms of peace, we are not able to molest any Flickerkin who remain in the Eye; therefore we have been unable to test these sensors on real Flickerkin . . .”

  “People,” my mother said. “You say you have not tortured people.”

  “. . . will be deployed
at all entrances to the arena, as well as in other undisclosed locations.”

  My father turned the radio off. “You have nothing to worry about, Rhondalynn,” he said. “The sensors can harm a Flickerkin only when he or she is invisible. It will have no effect on you or Myra.”

  “And since it will not affect us, we shouldn’t be worried,” said my mother.

  “I didn’t say that,” my father said. “But you will be safe. If there were secret Flickerkin here in the city, we would want to know about it. They would be risking the peace for all.”

  “This is why the Plats are taking even the prezine from the power relays in the Eye,” my mother said. “They wish to build more sensors. And for what?”

  “Have you not heard of the latest depth surveys?” my father asked.

  “A few inches,” she said.

  “For now,” said my father. “Who knows how soon the oceans may carry ships?”

  “What ships?” my mother asked. “Why would the Flicker Men come back to this island abandoned by the Waters?”

  My father shook his head, stopped by my mother’s blasphemy.

  “Poppa,” I said, “are you saying the Deputy is afraid the Flicker Men might come back? And we’re using prezine to build some kind of sensor to fight them?”

  “Yes,” said my father. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. And that’s why the Deputy doesn’t want people to panic.”

  “Are you saying there might really be Flickerkin here? Something for them to panic about?” My mother and I were the only ones in the city. They had both assured me of this since I was a small child.

  “It’s unlikely,” said my father. “They’ve stayed in the Eye for all these years. But this disturbance today is hard to explain.”

  “What did you see?” my mother asked. “Don’t evade the question.” As always, she saw right through me. I hadn’t intended to say a word. The last thing I needed was for her to fear that I’d be thrown from Hoof and forbid me to ride—​or attempt to forbid me.

  “I only saw the disturbance after,” I said. “Bricca was upset. Member Solis was convinced it was an invisible rider.”

  “It wouldn’t take much to convince her,” my mother said.

  “But there are no invisible beasts,” I said.

  “Of course not,” said my mother. “There are no beasts of any kind in the Eye.”

  “Caster’s father doesn’t want to believe it,” I said.

  My mother shook her head. I knew what she thought: that the Deputy was merely waiting for the panic to spread so that he would be “forced” to believe and begin the testing. But I didn’t know what to think. Caster was so accepting, thought me beautiful because I was different. From whom did he learn that?

  “I must go back,” my father said. “There is much to do to get the new sensors in place. Don’t worry. All this will pass soon—​you’ll see.” He gave my mother a quick kiss, and she smiled, a weary little smile.

  “Will I see you tonight?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Most likely late. Good night, Myra.” He leaned down and kissed me on the top of my head. “You look as if you had a good ride, despite the trouble.”

  “Yes,” I said. I didn’t want to admit that I could think of no reasonable explanation for what had happened. If even I couldn’t think of one, then people like Sky, who wished to stir up a panic, would succeed.

  But it meant nothing to me, I told myself. I hadn’t flickered since I was a child. I intended never to flicker again.

  I continued toward my room to bathe and change. I was about to call Caster on the voicebox, because I couldn’t stop thinking about our kiss and his smile this morning, but I picked up the receiver to find Porti calling me. This happened inordinately often, but usually I was attempting to call her, too. And she was bursting to talk about our ride.

  “What do you think happened?” she asked. “What could spook our beasts like that?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “Do you think it’s possible? An invisible rider on an invisible beast?”

  “My mother says it’s nonsense,” I said.

  “If a man can flicker, why not a beast?” said Porti.

  “Because it’s passed by blood,” I said.

  “We’re related to the animals, aren’t we? Haven’t we evolved from the fishes?”

  “But why would one of them ride around and disrupt our practice?” I asked.

  “Perhaps to make us crazy,” she said. “Perhaps they have a grievance.” She paused. “Does your mother know any Flickerkin? I mean, did she, back in the Eye?”

  “Of course she did,” I said. “She told me they like to keep to themselves, that they weren’t the ones who started the whole uprising anyway. They aren’t miners and never were because the Council won’t let them near prezine.” I was saying too much. But it was reasonable for me to know this. My mother could have told me because she was from the Eye and happened to know it.

  “I wonder what will happen,” she said.

  “My mother thinks they’re going to start testing Lefties again, which means torturing them to make sure they can’t flicker,” I said. “My father says she’s safe because she’s been tested before, but she doesn’t believe it, and she fears for me.”

  “How could they test you? You’re considered a Plat.”

  “I don’t know if that’s enough,” I said. The words fell from my mouth like stones. What good would my piece of paper do me when it came to a panic? A Deputy’s signature couldn’t change my blood.

  “Well, you would pass any test,” she said.

  “Of course,” I said. The lie was easy because I had been telling it my whole life. It might as well have been true. With half of my mind, I fully believed it. “But she fears they’ll hurt me.”

  “She’s just being a worried mother,” said Porti. “Member Solis warned me to stay away from Lefties. As if I even know any apart from the Drachmans.”

  I let that pass. I was glad she had forgotten my blood so quickly. But why did Member Solis think Porti had to worry about ordinary people like Nolan and his clothmaker parents? They were obviously not Flickerkin. Nolan himself had been knocked over during his training. Did the other Council Members fear ordinary Lefties too?

  “What?” Porti called to someone in the apartment. “It’s Myra! . . . What? All right, I’m coming!” Then, into the receiver: “I have to go. Next time I see you I want to hear everything that’s happened with Caster!” And then she hung up. Why had Member Solis called her away? What did Porti have to do on a Saturday after training?

  I picked up the receiver again to call Caster, but no one answered. So it was not until Monday that I saw him again. And by then there had been more strange incidents, and the City was spinning into a full panic.

  From A HISTORY OF THE UPLAND

  And when the uprising began, the Flicker Men supported their Leftie friends. They infiltrated Heart City, bringing daggers concealed on their persons. They and their mixed-race children, the Flickerkin, killed many Plateau People, leaving the sand at the edge of the oceans covered with blood. It was only when the oceans began to recede that the licker Men, fearing that they would become trapped on the plateau, took to their ships and fled the Upland.

  From THE BOOK OF THE WATERS

  Thus, the uprising was defeated by the Waters. They watch over us and protect us always.

  Seven

  SOMEONE INVISIBLE PUSHED HIS WAY THROUGH THE MARKET, knocking people aside and overturning a fruit stand.

  Four workbeasts were found wandering, having been let loose from their stalls in the dark of night.

  A man’s bag jumped out of his hand and didn’t drop to the ground for seven yards.

  Doors all over the city were heard opening and closing by themselves.

  Footsteps were everywhere. Noises abounded.

  My mother said it was nonsense, or else being staged by the Deputy to justify testing.

  My father didn’t co
me home except to sleep.

  Sky blasted the city with theories about what the Flickerkin wanted. Did they wish to start another uprising? Were they here to disrupt the Games? Was it a prelude to an invasion from across the oceans?

  Monday morning as I was getting ready for school, he was saying this: “It has also come to light in the last few days, coincidentally, that the oceans are rising at an alarming rate—​four inches over the past month. Could these two phenomena be related?”

  “Well, quite possibly they could,” said the guest, an old man who taught at the University. “We don’t know what is happening across the oceans. What have the Flicker Men been doing since they left our shores? People who have no respect for the Waters—​who ride across them as if they were roads—​may be capable of anything.”

  “Could these people—​whoever is causing this—​be Flicker Men invaders and not Flickerkin from the Left Eye?”

  “Well, I believe the oceans are still far too low to carry ships,” said the professor. “But might the Lefties be in contact with the Flicker Men? Voicebox technology does not preclude that. We have allowed them to keep some prezine in the Eye—​far too much, in my opinion. There are reports of power relays being stripped.”

  I headed for the door, attempting to avoid my mother. She had been in one of her quiet, suppressive moods all weekend, and I didn’t want to hear her reaction to this theory. But as I opened the door, I couldn’t help but overhear her mutter, “Too much prezine? They have none!” I didn’t see how they could have none; it was only that the Plats took most of it. I didn’t know how much you would need to run a voicebox powerful enough to reach the Flicker Men, who lived unimaginably far away across vast oceans, but surely—​I stopped myself. How could I be thinking as if the professor were right? Lefties were already in danger of being tortured. Things could only get worse for these people who, whether I liked it or not, were my kin.