Recombination

by Brendan Butts

  Piner had poisoned all the workers. He turned them against me before I even had a chance to prove my worth. I couldn't walk into the cafeteria without getting dirty looks or some jerk trying to trip me. It was terrible being on the outside. Perfect strangers at the other plantations had been nothing but nice to me. They'd listened to my story, they'd offered advice, they'd given their support. I hadn't realized until now how much that support and affection had meant to me, or how much I had needed it.

  Now, I was stuck here for the next six months with a group of people that hated the mere thought of me. A wave of depression rolled over me with such force that it almost made me sick. The only thing that stopped a tidal wave of panic from taking me over and sending me running out of the room was the look on Zenigra's face.

  Moments before, I had been unsure if Zenigra was concerned for me, or if he was merely worried about his own ass. Now, when I looked up at him, I could see he didn't care in the least how angry Lucas might be. He was worried about me. His face was set, betraying nothing, but I could see it in his eyes. It was the same look that my father had on his face the last time we saw each other.

  I'm not sure why Zenigra and I became such fast friends. Maybe that's just what happens when you throw two lonely drifters and a deck of cards together.

  Zenigra was a lot of the things that I had always wanted to be. Strong, tough, and respected. The kind of guy you hire to be a bodyguard. The kind of guy who stands in the door at the club and decides who gets to come in and who has to wait in line for another hour. The kind of guy that you cross the street to avoid.

  I saw in him what I hoped for myself. He had been a ganger. People feared him. They wouldn't dare make fun of him or try to trip him or throw him onto a table of food. If I was as tough as Zenigra, I would have been able to deal with Skywatch and its Corpsec when they had come to my parents' apartment. My family would still be alive.

  Cold hands pressed against the skin on my stomach and I inhaled sharply. That was a mistake. I suppressed a howl of pain and looked up at Tedeschi. He had moved his hands upwards a bit and he was now gently pressing fingers against my ribcage.

  "How bad it hurt?"

  I opened my mouth but I couldn't speak. Ribbons of pain were shooting out from the place his hands were pressed. He must have seen the answer in my eyes because he dropped his hands away quickly and turned to Lucas.

  "Mild concussion and two broken rib. I will give something for pain and some nano-surgeon to augment healing process. He need rest. Two day at least. Then most damage will be fixed and he will be able to work."

  Two days? Nano-surgeons? Why the hell would a plantation doctor be carrying around nano-surgeon injections?

  "Just get him fixed, Tedeschi," Lucas said. He motioned for Zenigra to follow him, and the pair left the room. I could hear them talking in low voices but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

  Tedeschi pulled out a palm-sized gray case from his bag and opened it. He withdrew a short syringe filled with clear liquid.

  "No!" I yelled, suddenly fully awake. "No needles!"

  "This is painkiller. Very potent. It will make pain go away. It is necessary, the nano-surgeons I'm going to inject will burn."

  "Please, isn't there another way?" I asked.

  Tedeschi seemed to contemplate this for a moment.

  "The nanos can be taken orally with water. It will not reduce effectiveness, but I do not recommend it. When they reach your blood and begin repairs, it will be very painful."

  "I'll take my chances."

  Tedeschi merely sighed and went to fetch a glass of water. A few minutes later, the drink was prepared. Tedeschi had emptied a syringe full of blood red liquid into the water. The water had turned a violent shade of red. He handed me the glass.

  "Short supply get shorter," Tedeschi said, more to himself than to me.

  "What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

  "Other man, the one attacked,” he motioned behind him as he stumbled for the word, “yesterday. I had to give him too. Jack no was happy, but they cheaper than cost of clone, or burial."

  I frowned at Tedeschi's words. Someone else had been attacked? Had it been the thief?

  "What happened?"

  "No one know. He found between the fields and the dorm, last night. He's in infirmary now. Still unconscious."

  "It could have been the same person that attacked me, couldn't it?"

  Tedeschi shook his head at my words.

  "Lucas disagree. He very sure. Jack want come with questions, see if you know anything. Lucas say no."

  "How could he know that? He hasn't even talked to me yet."

  Tedeschi shrugged and motioned to the glass in my hand, "Enough talk. Drink. All. One gulp it will be more easy."

  I took a deep breath and nodded at Tedeschi. I put the glass to my lips, tried not to breathe, and swallowed it all in one go. I let out my breath slowly, still trying not to breathe. Tedeschi nodded approvingly and took the glass out of my hand.

  When I finally took a breath, I almost gagged. The aftertaste of the nanos was terrible. A mixture of stale booze, oranges, and mud. Tedeschi replaced the glass in my hand with another, this one filled only with water, and handed me two pills.

  "Pills are endoprine, for pain. Take and sip water slow."

  I did as I was told. By the time I was finished with the glass of water, the aftertaste was subsiding and Lucas and Zenigra had returned. Tedeschi turned to address Lucas.

  "Pain in ass," Tedeschi said and motioned to me. "I give nanos by mouth. He going to be in pain soon, maybe twelve hour. I give pill, but nothing but needle with dezraldin will work good."

  Zenigra grimaced, "You sure about this, Sev? Nanos ain't no joke. I've never taken 'em cold before. Even with endo, it's going to burn."

  I shook my head and smiled weakly, "I'll be fine." I looked over at Tedeschi, "Is it alright if I sleep?"

  Tedeschi nodded, "If you can sleep, that would be best thing, but I doubt you'll be able to."

  The words sounded like they were being said from a long ways away. My vision took on the consistency of fog and I was out before he finished his sentence.

  Chapter 9

  I awoke later, unsure of how much time had passed. Laying on my back, still covered in thick blankets, I turned my head to look out the window. It was still light out, but that didn't tell me much at all since the sun had barely been rising when I'd shut my eyes.

  I was alert, more alert than I had any right to be. I'd taken my fair share of beatings growing up, from wannabe gangers and kids at school. I knew what I was supposed to feel like the next day. The soreness, the throbbing, the pain.

  Now though, I felt nothing. Not the kind of nothing you feel when you're perfectly healthy. This was the kind of nothing you feel while falling in a dream. Every inch of your conscious mind screaming that you should be paralyzed from the sickening twinge in the pit of your stomach, but you aren't. You don't feel that way because you aren't really falling.

  I could hear Zenigra moving around in the other room and smell meat cooking. I wondered why Zenigra wasn't just getting his food from the Cafeteria.

  I sat up, completely prepared for the world to start spinning and my vision to tunnel. I was surprised when it didn't. I had no nausea and my vision was crisp. I felt more awake than I had in months. The colors of various objects in the room, which had seemed so dull and far away when I had first arrived, now jumped out at me with an intensity that sent shivers down my spine.

  The nothingness I had been feeling since I woke up began to fade away. I felt like I was coming home from a long vacation. It was calming. The weight of my own body, so familiar, so comforting. Everything was as it should be.

  My body just wasn't how I remembered it.

  I felt lighter. It was as if I'd lost half my body weight. It reminded me of something described in a Jason Kimowagi documentary about new colonists arriving on one of the Moon colonies after spending their entire life on Earth. Even with t
he artificial gravity they generated up there, it was still less than half Earth norm. Whatever the Doc had called those pain killer drugs I'd taken before I'd fallen asleep, those things were good.

  I'd been somewhat nervous, given all the talk of terrible pain. Yet here I was, completely fine. Maybe more time had passed than I thought. Then again, maybe not. I felt rested, but I didn't feel as though I'd overslept. My internal clock was telling me eight or nine hours must have passed, but it had never been very accurate.

  Zenigra appeared in the doorway, the sides of his large frame obscured by the walls of his hut. He lifted his eyebrows at the sight of me.

  "And what the blue hell do you think you’re doing?" he asked, his voice angry.

  I raised my eyebrows innocently at his words.

  "I'm awake, I feel great. How long has it been?"

  Zenigra's mouth fell open, "You feel what?" I could hear some of the anger ebb out of his voice.

  "Great," I repeated.

  "Yeh, but that ain't possible. You got nanos up in you, Sev." Zenigra pointed to my chest as he spoke.

  "Whatever the Doc gave me, it worked. I slept fine, I feel fine. Really Zenny, I feel good. Better than I've felt in a while."

  Zenigra just shook his head in disbelief.

  "What?"

  "It's amazing, that's what. I've seen grown men screamin' in pain with less nanos in 'em than you got. Just the fact that you were able to sleep, is amazing. They weren't afraid of needles neither, took their shots right they did."

  "Maybe that part just hasn't hit me yet," I said, frowning. I had really hoped to avoid the intense and excruciating pain Tedeschi had described.

  "Nah. See, nanos they work fast. You should have been feeling 'em within a minute or two. Once they hit the bloodstream, they start burning.

  "I must have slept through it then."

  Zenigra just shook his head again. I didn't understand what the big deal was. So, they didn't burn me from the inside out. That was a good thing, wasn't it?

  “How do they work?” I asked, hoping to coax more information out of Zenny.

  “Nano-surgeons are tiny machines, see? They get injected into the bloodstream. I ain’t never been sure exactly how they work, but the basics is that they help speed up the healin’ of damaged tissue an’ bone. They been around for about twenty years. Started out they were used to treat cancer when other stuff wouldn’t work. They been more an’ more popular as ah cure all for whatever lately. Got plenty ah people worried that they’ll be overused into… I dunno, something bad might happen or sumthin.”

  “Like what happened with antibiotics?”

  “Huh?” Zenigra looked confused, “What happened with them then?”

  “They got overused and stopped being effective.”

  “Huh,” Zenigra replied in a non-committal tone that I had begun to understand meant he was done with a topic.

  "What are you cooking?" I asked.

  Zenigra seemed happy for the distraction and launched into an explanation, "Deer. Crazy thing, that. Been wanting some real meat for a while now, but haven't had any chance. So, I hear a deer gets hit by one of the cargo haulers on its way out of one of the processing plants. Asked Jack to leave it be for me. Picked it up while you were sleeping."

  "Is it still good after being run over?"

  "Sure, nothing wrong with it but some broken legs. Hauler didn't even kill it. I had to put the poor thing out its misery. And after that, I wasn't jus' gonna let it go to waste. Ever had venison, Sev?"

  "Venison?"

  "Yeah, deer meat, like we been talking about."

  I shook my head.

  "You'll love it. Got a secret recipe."

  I grinned at Zenigra, "Does it take long to cook?"

  "Takes a while, but then again, I been at it for a few hours, so it'll be done soon."

  "Great, cause I'm starved."

  Zenigra just laughed and walked back to the kitchen.

  *

  Half an hour later, I was seated on a stool at Zenigra's kitchen table. The table itself was terribly small with scarcely enough room on it for the two plates I'd watched Zenigra set.

  Zenigra wasn't used to having company and he had made a big production out of setting the table up properly with plastic cups, forks, knives, and plates. He doled out heaping portions of the deer meat along with some mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce he'd picked up from the cafeteria. All in all, it looked the best meal I'd seen since leaving Miami.

  I chewed on the venison meat and quietly contemplated its taste. It was surprising. Not so much that the meat tasted different, but I couldn’t help but think I was tasting it differently. I thought for a moment that it might just be the difference in the meat. Then, I took a mouthful of mashed potatoes. These were like nothing I had tasted before, and yet they were most definitely mashed potatoes. They weren't so different from the kind my mother used to make, though hers had never been this flavorful.

  It was definitely my sense of taste that was different. I thought about mentioning it to Zenigra but didn't want to worry him. It was probably a side effect of the nanos and if that was the case, it would pass eventually. For now, though, I was going to enjoy this heightened sense as much as possible.

  I chewed slowly, savoring each bite. The meal tasted better than anything I could ever remember having. I cleaned my plate and got seconds. Zenigra finished his second plate about the same time as I finished mine. He was looking thoroughly impressed at my ability to eat. We both finished our third plates, which finished off the last of the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.

  "Yeh not full yet, Sev?"

  "It's so good, I can't stop eating."

  "No better praise than that," Zenigra beamed.

  We took just meat for our fourth plates.

  "I really like the deer meat," I said, in between mouthfuls.

  "Nothing like fresh deer. I used to hunt with my brother when we were younger."

  "I didn't know you had a brother."

  Zenigra nodded and put down his fork and knife, "Haven't seen 'im in a couple of years. He's up in Boston."

  "That's where I'm headed. After Winter."

  "Me too. I should have been there a month and a half ago, but I got stalled on my way for a while. So, I'm waiting the Winter out here. Same as you, I guess."

  "Maybe when it's warmer we can travel the rest of the way together," I said.

  I was keen on sticking with Zenigra. I had made plenty of fast friends working the plantations, but we had always parted ways pretty quickly. It would be nice to have one that wasn't headed in a different direction.

  "True enough. But we gotta get through the Winter first," Zenigra grinned.

  "What's your brother do in Boston?"

  Zenigra chuckled at the question and took a moment before responding, "Well. He's King Snake."

  I frowned at Zenigra, not understanding the phrase. "King Snake?" I repeated, questioningly.

  Zenigra nodded, "He's the head of a gang called the Snakes. One of the biggest in Boston. I was heading up there to join up with him."

  "I thought you didn't like being a ganger, because they just made you do all the heavy lifting?" I asked.

  "Yeah, but with him, it's different. He's my brother. I know he'll treat me right."

  "How come he doesn't just send you some money to take a train the rest of the way?" I asked.

  "He don't know I'm coming, is why."

  I nodded, putting down my fork and knife.

  "Finally full, are you?"

  "Just about," I said, rubbing my stomach. I had been hoping Zenigra would explain why his brother didn't know he was on his way up to Boston, but he didn't seem to want to talk about it anymore. He just stood up and cleared away the plates and utensils.

  "Probably good for you to get back in bed. You may feel fine, but there’s basically a war going on inside you right now. You ain't proper healed yet. No reason to strain yourself. Jack don't expect you back on the fields until tomorrow an
yway."

  I stood up, uncertain if Zenigra was asking me to leave or not. He seemed to sense my confusion and pointed towards the bedroom.

  "Go on, Lucas wants me to keep an eye on you until you’re feeling better."

  "Thanks for dinner, man," I smiled.

  "Ain't no thang," he replied as he began washing the plastic forks and knives in the sink.

  I headed back into his bedroom, suddenly feeling quite tired from the meal. I lay my head down on the bed and fell asleep with a full stomach for once.

  I dreamed about Zenigra's brother and his Snakes.

  Chapter 10

  I woke up the next morning before dawn and I was completely rested, though soaked with sweat. I had slept in my clothes, which were now in serious need of a wash. I still had about an hour before it was time to start work on the fields, so I got out of bed and walked quietly out into the main room of Zenigra's hut.

  Zenigra was sleeping on a makeshift cot on the floor. The cot sat between the couch and the TV, and Zenigra's massive bulk took up all of the cot, along with most of the floor space around it. I managed to move carefully by him and to the door without waking him up.

  I walked out into crisp air and waning darkness. I took several deep breaths, fascinated by how fresh the air smelled, then I headed to the dormitory. I slipped inside and made it to my room, the tool shed, without making a sound. Once inside I stripped off my dirty clothes and put on a somewhat cleaner set. Then I went to the bathroom, carrying my dirty clothes in my arms.

  I took a warm shower and it felt great. It was as if I could feel every bead of water as it impacted my skin. People started to filter into the bathroom as I was finishing up my shower. I dried off, put my clean set of clothes back on and hand washed the dirty set in one of the basins set aside for that purpose. I was careful to ring as much water out of the fabric as possible when finished, to prevent the clothes from getting moldy before they were completely dry.