Rubberman's Cage

by Joseph Picard

  Actual nodded. “Funny thing is, it's a different kind. A Geiger counter doesn't detect it, but I've felt it. I've taken my mask off in this before. Stupid, I know. I could feel the heat from it almost immediately. Low levels of radiation don't feel warm, but...well, it was scary.”

  Lenth gasped. “Did you get sick?”

  “No. It was only a second or so. I'm just fortunate that the Enemy wasn't closer. It flies along its patrol route, very slowly, every day. In the middle of the day, it's so bright. At night, it's somewhere else, maybe keeping other people in hiding, like it does to us.”

  “Like this Division guy? Where does he come from? Does he come while the Enemy isn't looking?”

  “No. Somehow he comes when the Enemy is close. I don't know how he survives.”

  “Have you asked him?”

  Actual laughed. “I don't go anywhere near him! I'm safely inside when he brings things to the front room. I bring it further in later, after the Enemy has left.”

  “How does he survive?” Lenth asked, agape.

  “For as long as he must be out here? I'm not sure, but look at the ground.”

  Streaks of the floor were smeared out across in curves and lines. Always at least two streaks about fifteen centimetres wide, and two or so metres apart. “Tracks from some kind of picker? Bigger, though. I can only assume he has something like our suits. See, there's footprints, too. Maybe it's something better. But no, I only talk to him through the communication devices. Even with our suits, I don't want to press my luck when the Enemy is close.”

  “Well, have you asked Division about these kinds of things over the communication device?” Lenth asked.

  “I tried a few times. It didn't go well. He only wants to hear specific things, like things we want him to bring. Outside of that, it's like he gets confused. One time I made him angry, I think. The last thing any of us need is for Division to be angry.”

  “He might stop bringing things?”

  “Exactly. I may have come very close that time, too...just imagine. No new light bulbs. No new parts of any kind, no new supplies for the clinic. I can't believe how I endangered us all. It would have been a gruellingly slow end to us. Never again.”

  “Change is dangerous,” Lenth murmured in a tone on the edge of patronizing Actual. When Lenth came up from his Unit, Phil was frightened by change. Did Contact want to get rid of Lenth in Citizenry because he represented change? Messenger wasn't afraid of whatever change that Lenth might represent. Neither was Gabe, Karen, or Leena. Actual? Maybe a little.

  “Can we get inside now?” Messenger asked. “It's creepy as heck out here.”

  The blistered, raw skin of a place ravaged by war. There wasn't even any signs of wreckage. For that matter, even the blackness of burning had faded away. How long had it been? In any event, Lenth agreed with Messenger.

  No walls? Creepy.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Necessary

  The delivery to Citizenry was uneventful, and Leena wasn't there, so they continued down to see Contact.

  “We're ready to remove Six,” Messenger said.

  Contact nodded solemnly. “Come with me.”

  After a small walk and a single floors' trip on one of the smaller elevators, they came to a door with two Providers guarding it. They each held one of those shock-sticks. They saw Contact and Messenger coming, and stiffened their stance to make a good impression.

  “Messenger is here for him,” Contact grunted.

  “Go head, Sirs,” one of the Providers said.

  Contact reached forward and opened the door.

  “Just like that?” Lenth blurted. “It wasn't even locked? Not very sec—”

  “I'm here, I'm here, relax,” Six said as he came to the doorway. His hands were still bound behind his back. “I only went out to go to the bathroom, and the zap boys escorted me all the way.”

  Messenger raised his eyebrows, looking at Six but speaking to Contact. “Remind me at some point to discuss ideas about security. Not that I expect the need to come again anytime soon, but an unlocked door is less than comforting.”

  “It was comforting enough to me!” Six smiled. “So! What now? You stuff me face first into the bottom of a compost vat? Or will you just cut me up and eat me directly?” His smile was wide, but his eyes spoke of panic, darting about as if he was expecting to fend off an attack.

  “I had another idea, Six. I think you might actually like it,” Lenth said.

  Six gave Lenth a sideways look, glanced at Messenger, then shrugged a tiny bit. With a few gestures from Contact, the two Providers with the shock-sticks took position to follow behind Lenth, who was behind Six, which was behind Messenger and Contact.

  When they made their way to the central elevator. Messenger opened it up, while Contact moved back to stand with his two subordinates. “I can go no further.”

  “Of course,” Messenger said, finally taking the ladder out and handing it to Contact. Messenger called out, “Six? Lenth?” Six looked back, checking with Lenth. Lenth nodded, and they filed in, followed by Messenger.

  “What will you do with him?” Contact asked, having heard about his apparent radiation poisoning. “How long do you think he has?”

  Messenger paused halfway through dragging the door shut. “Honestly, I don't know.” He closed the door the rest of the way and started towards the control panel. He pointed at the wall farthest from the door. “Six, stand over there for the duration, if you please? Lenth, keep an eye on him.”

  Six looked around and finally started to go where he was supposed to. “I'm surprised you guys didn't bring the zappy sticks along.”

  “There's two of us,” Lenth said plainly as the elevator bumped and groaned to life, “and with your hands like that...”

  “I can still kick!” Six said. “I could even lie on my back and kick all over the place! Or I could just come at you face-first and bite! Oh, how I could bite.” He spat on the floor. “Oh! Or that! I could moisten you both, and you'd be helpless to stop me!”

  With a wretched twist of his expression and an inward collapse of his poise, his protective jovial membrane broke. He leaned face first against the wall. “Why don't you just kill me already? Where are we going? Are you going to let the radiation get me? Is that it? Are you taking me somewhere to watch it do...whatever it's going to do to me? Is that my punishment? I get it! I get it already!”

  “Hey, Six,” Lenth called out loud enough to break Six's rant, “how are you feeling right now?”

  Six turned and gave Lenth a dark, spiteful look, but didn't speak.

  Lenth stared back. “You're not dying.”

  Six continued glowering, but his expression softened. A little. “What, you're taking me to get cured? What for, to throw me into Citizenry and get killed?”

  “The pool wasn't a risk, we found out,” Messenger said. “Actual set us straight. Much the suit usage in that area, it turns out, is a little on the paranoid side.”

  “Same with the Manager suits,” Lenth mumbled, “there was going to be some dangerous experiments once, and they kept the suits out of...all paranoia.”

  “What?” Six yelled, “Those freaky rubber suits are for nothing?”

  “No, no,” Messenger said, “In some parts of the reactor, and for some jobs, they're entirely vital.”

  Six, with his hand still bound, could only kick the air to vent his frustration, then started walking around. He caught a warning-glace from Messenger and skipped back from some imaginary line, continuing his pacing closer to the far wall. “So! It's all about experiments that never happened?”

  “It was, at some point,” Messenger said. “But before that, it was about hiding from war, from a killing of impossible scale. Between the time it was first built and the war itself, there was a peace, where people tried to make other uses for this place. Then the war came. Now it's about plain living. We live here. Some of us make food, some of us work on filters to help keep the air and water clean, some of us keep
things organized, some of us fix things…”

  Six burst out laughing. “Well! That's just super! And why are you telling me all this?”

  “If everyone knew, it would be chaos. The Enemy is still out there, and it doesn't drop off food and water; it drops off buckets of radiation.”

  “Then I ask again! Why tell me?”

  Messenger was silent for a moment, and Six clued in. “You're putting me out there, aren't you? Out with this Enemy who doesn't drop food or water. Wha...from the sounds of it, I'd be better off in Citizenry!”

  “The Citizens wouldn't feel that way,” Lenth said.

  “We're not just tossing you out,” Messenger explained, “and you'll be prepared, and we'll send you when the Enemy isn't looking. It just left a while ago.”

  “Lucky me.” Six stared into nothingness, and slid down against the wall. He started mumbling, mainly to himself. “I got out. I got out, and things were supposed to be good. Things were supposed to be good because the Rubberman was dead, and he couldn't do those things to me any more. To me, or my Brothers. But ooh, no, there's more Rubberman! And rubbery-er men, and the grand and mighty Messenger!” Six broke from mumbling, and quickly slid towards yelling, now limp on the floor, face half-pressed against it.

  “Where were you, grand and mighty Messenger? When I was living under that grate, dreading the next time that Rubberman showed up next to us? Where were you? Where was anybody? When he fell, and the Brothers weren't tethered in, what was supposed to happen? I had... I had...” Six took a deep breath, and squirmed to right himself to at least be sitting up. He looked at Lenth and Messenger, who were both at a loss.

  Six nodded small, abrupt nods. “He's gone now. He's gone. A lot has happened, but he's gone. Let's just.... okay. Let's just get there.”

  The elevator arrived on Actual's level and Lenth dragged the door open. “Here we are.” He watched Six's face as he absorbed the surreal, smooth room. Six's expression was one of wonder, but wonder caged behind bars of anger and fear.

  “Well,” Six said, still looking about the immediate surroundings, “Where's this Actual guy?”

  “You won't be meeting him.” Messenger said. “On account of your violent history, we figured that would be unwise.”

  Six turned away from Messenger so that his bound hands were pointed in Messenger's general direction. He wiggled his fingers out in the most menacing way possible. “I'm going to pluck your eyes out and pick your nose! Flee! Flee!” Six spat on Actual's beautiful floor.

  Messenger sighed. “Yes, and we don't need Actual's nose picked for him.”

  “Really? Are you sure? I mean, did you ask?” Six laughed his nervous laugh once more, eyes wide.

  Messenger pointed down the hall that Lenth hadn't been to before, the middle hall, leading to the other 'smooth' room. It was wide, and had seating for dozens of people around the sides. A large, smooth, glossy desk sat in the middle, facing a sealed five-metre wide door on the other side. The front of the desk had large letters on it. W...e...l...c...oh forget it. There were dozens of letters. There wasn't time for this.

  Narrow metal racks standing up to the hip were positioned in a few spots, holding nothing. Whatever they were made to hold weren't much bigger than a hand, and each rack had four or more spots where these objects might be held. On the top edge of some of these racks, there were strange images, almost entirely faded away. Smiling people in strange clothes. One had a picture of the cooling pool that Six had jumped into. One showed...Citizenry? From when it was new. Undamaged. Lenth gazed at it, wishing the image were clearer.

  “This way out doesn't pass through all the supplies and stuff,” Messenger said quietly to Lenth, drawing him away from the racks. Focus.

  Near the desk sat a pile of supplies meant for Six. A Rubberman suit (the radiation-proof kind), a khaki backpack filled mostly with food, and a long belt with half a dozen opaque bottles of water, about a litre each.

  Six looked at the pile and looked at the large door. “Gonna be hard to put on the suit with my hands like this,” he finally said grimly.

  “Hold on, right there,” Messenger said. “Lenth, can you lift that door on your own? It hasn't been used in a long time.”

  Lenth want over to it and grabbed one of the handles. It was tough. He knelt down to position his shoulder below the handle and pushed up with his legs. Once it got moving, it was a little easier, but it complained about the ordeal, rattling and scraping as it went.

  As it rose, it revealed a second identical door, only three metres beyond the first. “This one too?” Lenth asked.

  “Actual said he'd leave it unlocked. Should be safe. If you see any of the Enemy's light coming through as you open it, slam it shut right away—but I'm pretty sure it's gone.”

  Lenth looked at the bottom of the door with a wary eye and positioned himself by a handle for another tough lift. He pushed up with all the effort the first door took, and then he pushed with more. The rubber rim on the bottom edge moved a tiny bit, but it wasn't going to go much further. Lenth slid down the door to sit, and rest his arm. “Ow. Ow, ow, and hello, ow. Let me have a little rest, and I'll try again.”

  “Let me know when you're ready,” Messenger said, “and you're going to get help this time, from Six.”

  “He is?” Six asked.

  “He is. I'll undo your restraints when it's time.”

  “And why do you think I'm motivated to help you two kick me out?”

  “Because now you're curious,” Lenth said, rubbing his shoulder. “And to make it better, it's far from any Rubbermen that you hate so much.”

  Six laughed. “And I'll be dressed as one when I go!”

  “You don't need to wear it when the Enemy isn't there,” Messenger said, “but it might be easier than carrying it. I recommend you wear most of the suit most of the time, and only put the mask and hood up when you see the Enemy creeping into the sky.”

  “What...what's it look like?”

  “You'll know it when you see it,” Messenger said. “I've seen things out there that you can hide behind. The suit will do the trick, but hiding behind something is better. Try to travel only when the Enemy is gone.”

  “Travel...travel where?”

  “My advice is to turn right once you're out the doors,” Messenger said, “and then keep going forward. That's the way Division comes from. The ground is different in a wide stripe that direction. I think it's like a hallway without walls that he uses. Some distance further to the right are a few huge pipes that are partly under the floor out there. I don't know where either goes. Maybe to other survivors of the war, maybe even someone still fighting. Division can't be alone. I'm not sure where the hall or the pipes go, but—”

  “But they probably go somewhere. Fine. Lenth? You were out there, yeah? What's it like?”

  “The Enemy is amazing, and hurts your eyes if you look right at it for very long. It's—”

  “Oh, not the Enemy, I'm avoiding it, remember? What's the rest of it like?”

  Lenth turned his head as if looking through the door. “Amazing. Can't see any wall, can't see any ceiling.”

  “Actual said that a couple of times, he's seen big puffs of white smoke that look like they're really high up, but they don't seem to come from anything,” Messenger said.

  Six exhaled. “Messing with my head. You're messing with my head, both of you.”

  Lenth smiled. “I'm a little envious, you know. I'd love to explore it, but there's things I need to do here. And people I'd miss.”

  “I never caught up with my last surviving Brother,” Six said.

  “He's fine now,” Messenger said. “He got assigned to another Unit.”

  “Pah. Lucky him.”

  “It's Spots, isn't it?” Lenth said. “He has freckles, and showed up after Slim died!”

  “Spots...” Six said grimly, staring into Lenth's eyes, “he's okay?”

  “Yeah, he was kind of hazy when he first arrived, but he's doing fine, last I saw. We h
ad no idea then...”

  “Sounds like he was given some zepam,” Messenger said. “It gets rid of memories. The more recent the memories, the better they're erased.”

  Six squinted at the floor. “Would he remember me? And what happened?”

  Messenger shrugged. “If he's lucky, he forgot the killings. Probably would recognize you, since you'd be a long-term memory for him.”

  “All right, guys,” Lenth said, “let's get this thing open.”

  Messenger walked up to Six, who'd turned his back to make his hands accessible. “No acting up now, Six.” He released the restraint and tossed the strap into the hall.

  Six looked back at Messenger with a resigned, if not sad expression. He mumbled something about playing with people's heads, then took a deep breath, and righted his posture. “Yeah. Yeah, it's okay. No acting up. You guys have pretty much convinced me. It sounds interesting at least. Hiding from the Enemy, though...sounds tricky.”

  “The Enemy is very predictable. It never changes direction; you just have to avoid the radiation that it's always flooding out.”

  “Super.” Six went over to the other handle on the door and copied Lenth's stance. “All right, let's go!”

  Lenth and Six heaved upwards on their handles, and with even more complaints than the last door, it began to give way. They all kept a close eye as it lifted, and no light from the Enemy spilled through. Behind the door stood four metal frames—like doors, but with no middle section, as if the middle had been cut out. No...a few bits of the glass stuck in the inner edge of the frames told them that these doors had once also been windows for some reason. Without the glass in place, they didn't even serve any real function as doors.

  With the second large door all the way up, Six wandered through the nearest frame, onto the fractured, dirty floor outside, and into the dark expanse. Whereas earlier the… ceiling area... had been flooded with light from the Enemy's radioactivity, there was now blackness. So much blackness. His eyes, and Lenth's adjusted to looking into the darkness.

  Random tiny dots of white light littered the darkness above. They seemed to have no pattern, and didn't move from their positions, but many changed how bright they were—subtle changes, continually.