Olivia's Escape

by Cindy Matthews

  Olivia! Where are you? Olivia! Why did you run away? Olivia, baby, come home!

  With a sob she jerked herself awake.

  Valori patted her hand. "It's all right, child. It was just a bad dream."

  "No, this place is the bad dream." Olivia yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Are we there yet?"

  "We're getting closer. Notice anything different outside?"

  Olivia peered out the window, narrowing her eyes as she examined the landscape. "There are weird tufts of grass, and I see some mountains in the distance up ahead and..." She squinted, blinked and sat up straighter. "The sky is growing lighter. Is it sunlight?"

  "We can see the other star of BloodDark," Valori explained. "It's always in the sky on this side of the world. Every three hundred rotations the second sun draws near, and the two stars will shine together for a short time and flood both sides of the world with light—an event the Pure Bloods dread more than being discovered by their long forgotten enemies."

  "I can imagine how much they like getting their pale skin sunburned." Olivia giggled at the thought of a red and peeling Murnau. "So, we're safe on this part of BloodDark? The Pure Bloods won't bother us here?"

  "Not really. They'll force the Overseers to endure the light, but they'll have none of it themselves."

  Olivia enjoyed soaking up the perpetual twilight bathing the scenery. It made such a change from the bleakness of the journey to this point. As the refracted light from beyond the mountains grew stronger, so the vegetation grew higher and denser. It reminded her of a documentary video she had seen about the midnight sun of the Arctic regions.

  A valley opened up ahead of the train, and the light grew stronger yet. An orange-yellow spot appeared where the tracks met the horizon, dazzling Olivia's night-adjusted vision. She squinted through the tears and watched the orb rise into the sky. It seemed much closer to BloodDark than the Sun looked from Earth, but it was perhaps not quite as bright.

  All the dorks in the astronomy club at school would be so jealous! Here she was traveling on a planet with two suns, one close and the other small and distant. This sphere never rotated—or else rotated to match its source of light. As luck would have it, she'd landed on the dark side. Olivia recalled reading about Mercury online at her favorite astronomy site. Astronomers called it a tidally locked world, but the second star of BloodDark added a little excitement to the mix.

  What happens to the Pure Bloods when both stars come together? How vulnerable to light are they? Is this a weakness to be exploited?

  The vegetation thickened and grew in proliferation and variety the further they traveled into the light. Wildflowers edged the side of the tracks. The low-growing, briar-filled bushes in the distance morphed into full-fledged trees now. The temperature inside the carriage was increasing, and others had started opening the narrow windows to let the breeze in. Olivia caught the scent of a thunderstorm developing, and within minutes, there came a flash, then a crack of lightning echoing across the plain followed by a heavy rain.

  "What was that?" Valori's eyes grew large. "Are we under attack?"

  "No, it's only a thundershower. It's harmless enough." Valori didn't look too certain. Olivia frowned. "Don't tell me you've never seen a thunderstorm before."

  Valori grinned. "I have now."

  "How does it rain in the city? I mean, how do the city dwellers get their water?"

  "From the rivers under the city. Great flows of water lie under the buildings. Water seldom falls from the skies like this...thunderstorm." Valori flinched. A rolling boom echoed the passing of the shower.

  "With one side always in light and the other in dark, it does cause some interesting weather patterns on this world." Olivia smiled. "I see why this is the agricultural side."

  Soon she spied cultivated fields irrigated by thin, blue parallel canals, followed by stone barns and granaries and what appeared to be the workers' dormitories. The transport slowed, then halted with a groan alongside a platform. Ahead, Olivia saw a high water tower and huge coal hoppers by the side of the track with a crew standing by ready to refuel the locomotive. Beyond these a massive steam-powered turntable stood poised to turn the great engine around and send it back to the dark side.

  "End of the line, right?" Olivia stood with the others and squinted out the window. "This light is going to take some getting used to after spending so long in the dark."

  Valori winced and covered her eyes with a hand. "I haven't seen this much light since I was a young girl... before we came to the city."

  Olivia took her friend by the arm and helped her to her feet. "Let me guide you until your eyes get used to it." How could anyone survive as long as Valori has without seeing sunlight? She gently led the older woman through the narrow aisle passage. Is that what the Pure Blood's altered DNA does? Makes it possible for them to live without the light?

  Slowly they disembarked from the transport, stumbling and bumping into others in the sunlight as they made their way onto the platform. Once outside the confines of the train, the temperature soared. Olivia noticed the Overseers' charcoal-colored sun-goggles, long gloves, and wide brimmed hats atop their hooded capes.

  Their outfits must weigh a ton. They can't be too cool in them, either. Look how slowly they move in the heat. Nice to see they don't carry the long poles the Overseers in the city do.

  She soon discovered they carried something worse.

  Chapter Seven

  The male servants congregated ahead of the women, most stumbling about blind in the unaccustomed light. Olivia scanned the crowd for Hernando, but found herself being pushed backward by the others as a stampede began. She gripped Valori's arm and dare not let go.

  "What gives?" Olivia shouted. "Hey—watch it! You almost trampled her! Be careful where you're going!"

  Olivia's gaze focused on what caused the panic. One of the men, trying to evade the Overseers and escape his fate at the farm, had jumped off the station platform. The Overseers didn't appear to be in much of a hurry to capture the wiry, middle-aged man. One hulking guard slowly made his way over to the platform's edge and reached under his cape to pull out an object the size and shape of a soda can.

  "What's happening?" Valori blinked rapidly. "I can't make anything out but blurs in this bright light."

  "A man is attempting an escape. He's jumped off the platform and is running into the fields beyond the station. The Overseers aren't overreacting at all. It looks like one has pulled out a hand-sized cylinder and is pointing it at the runaway."

  "Oh, dear... I've heard about it, but I've never seen the device used."

  "Device?" Olivia shifted her stance to gain a better view through the crowd. "He's going to throw a pop can at the guy?"

  Before Valori could reply, the Overseer activated the device. A whip-like cord of gleaming metal exploded outward from the cylinder, covering the distance between guard and fugitive in the blink of an eye. The cord grabbed the escaping man's ankle and wrapped around his lower leg. Jerked off balance, the escapee tripped, fell, and was abruptly yanked back onto the platform and dragged to the feet of the waiting Overseers.

  Olivia thought her heart would burst from her chest it beat so hard. She stood breathless with fear and awe.

  "Did...you...see that? The cord zapped out of the can and grabbed the guy and reeled him in like a fish on a line, only much, much faster." She gulped. Okay, even dealing with the challenges of heat and light, the Overseers have some powerful weaponry on their side to keep slaves from escaping.

  "I couldn't see it well, but I've heard the tales before of what happens when servants attempt to flee the farm." Valori gave Olivia's hand on her arm a squeeze. "Don't you worry. We'll help you keep from the Overseers' notice as much as possible."

  They turned from the scene and followed the other women toward what looked like a dormitory or barrack block in the distance. Suddenly Olivia felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck. She spun around and raised her hand.

  "Hernando? Over here!" />
  "Olivia? Valori?" A figure from the men's line stepped away from the group. An Overseer raised his whip cord can device. Hernando stepped back into the line and glared at their guards. "I'm glad you're both okay. We'll talk in a little while."

  Will they allow us to talk? Olivia worried. Or will my past from the dark side catch up with me here?

  After a perfunctory tour of their quarters, given by a female Overseer, the women unpacked and settled into their bunks. Olivia had wondered about the differences between Overseer males and females and now she knew—none. They acted just as cross and surly as the males. In looks, the female Overseers closely resembled the angular, dark-eyed Pure Blood women at the festival, but Olivia noted some slight variations between them. Was it the overall shape of their faces? That was it. They were a bit rounder, softer in the features. Even if some human physical characteristics showed through, the Overseers did their best to hide these by acting twice as superior and ten times as condescending as their masters.

  "We definitely know who's in charge around here," Olivia grumbled under her breath after an Overseer had verbally harassed another newcomer for failing to make her bed properly. The women servants stood at attention in a row in front of their bunks, waiting for their next instructions. "It's like we're in the army."

  "Army?" Valori wrinkled her brow in thought. "You mean we've joined a group of armed men?"

  "Women can join the army, too, where I come from. I suppose these Overseers feel we're lacking discipline, and that's why we've been sent to Boot Camp."

  Valori chuckled. "Boot Camp? You do use the strangest terms, Olivia of the Clan Brown. Try not to be seen as a rebel. Answer 'yes' or 'no' and do as you're told like you do in your own clan on Earth."

  Olivia sighed. "I hate to tell you, but I've never been very good at following orders. In fact, it's because I didn't follow my parents' orders that I ended up on BloodDark in the first—"

  "Silence!" barked the lead Overseer. Olivia bit her lip and shivered in her sneakers. The broad-shouldered female stood at the front of the barracks. She paused to adjust her wrist translator, fine-tuning it to make her words understandable to the assembly as she strolled down the aisle between bunks. "I am Lynik, your matron at Farm Alphan. You are to obey all Overseer commands without question. Is that understood?"

  In unison the women answered, "Yes, we obey."

  Olivia stood, head held high. Lynik stopped in front of Olivia's bunk, her intense glare resting upon her face.

  "Is that understood?" The matron assumed her sharp-toothed sneer could cut through the thickest of dissent and leave any slave without hope, but Olivia would have none of it. She continued to stare back unapologetically.

  Frowning, Lynik turned and barked orders to her underlings. Before she could react, Olivia found herself being hustled out of the dormitory.

  "Wait, my mistress!" Valori cried. "She is very new to our world. She doesn't know our ways. I will teach them to her."

  Lynik signaled for her assistants to halt. "You had better teach her well, old one, or she will be made a part of the sports." The matron motioned for Olivia to be returned to her bunk. "And you understand how much Overseers enjoy their sport, don't you Quadsang?"

  Valori nodded. With an evil cackle, Lynik exited the building.

  Olivia let out a long held breath. "Whew! That was close. Thanks again for saving my bacon, Valori."

  "It is your life that I saved, not this bacon," her friend corrected her. "Remember to follow orders from now on. If you're taken away from the farm, Hernando cannot help you get home again."

  Home. Whatever it took, she had to get back home.

  "You're right." Olivia smiled. "I will act like a good slave—until it's time to get out of this place."

  Suppertime couldn't come early enough for Olivia. After cleaning their dormitory from top to bottom, including scrubbing the front steps, she felt totally exhausted. The natives of BloodDark didn't act tired with all the physical exertion and adapted easily to the heat and light. She worried about how Valori and some of the older women would handle the work since they'd lived most of their lives in the city, but they held up their end of the tasks without complaint. Olivia felt genuine admiration for her ancestors who worked equally grueling tasks.

  "Is it soup yet?" she asked Valori as she tossed her rag into the suds bucket.

  "Food will be served in a short while. I heard one of the Overseers discuss the arrangements. Here, sit down, child." Valori cleared a place off the steps for her to rest. "The heat is draining on one not used to it."

  Olivia plopped onto the spot and ran her fingers through her hair. Her scalp was damp with sweat. "It's a bit warmer here. Odd, I get the feeling the night side should be much colder."

  Valori nodded. "We are on the terminator line, a land of perpetual sunrise—or sunset, depending on your point of view." She pointed toward the sun. "If you continue in that direction, you'll find yourself in endless desert where the sun beats down upon you without mercy. The scorching winds from the desert travel high into the air and around the globe to the dark side, keeping it warm in spite of the lack of light."

  "Now I see why the Pure Bloods stayed put on the dark side. Who wants to fry?"

  The metallic-clanging of a gong interrupted their conversation. Immediately the women began to line up and march toward the courtyard between the two dormitories. Olivia scrambled to her feet. "The cafeteria is open."

  Upon reaching the courtyard, Olivia's heart skipped a beat. Hernando stood in the food line opposite. She couldn't help but smile, even if the slop ladled into her plate had all the color and texture of wet concrete.

  "I knew we'd meet again." He winked.

  "How can you act so laid-back?"

  He shrugged. "It's a knack."

  They were allowed to sit together on a small hillside covered in short grass. Olivia noticed how at home Hernando acted as he made small talk with the others. It seemed odd since Valori had told her they both had worked in the Clan Alphan household for many years.

  "You've been here before haven't you?" She forced a forkful—or what passed for a fork since it was shaped more like a small triangular shovel—of the gray glop into her mouth. "Ugh. If I wasn't so hungry I wouldn't touch this stuff except with a concrete mixer."

  "The food does take some getting used to," he admitted, "and yes to your question. I grew up here on the Alphan farm. It's nice to be home."

  Olivia looked around at endless fields of grain and vegetables and drab stone buildings that broke the monotony of corn in places. It all reminded her of visiting her cousins in rural Kansas. "I guess you miss the peace and quiet, huh?"

  "That, too, but most of all I missed the freedom we experience away from the city."

  "Freedom?" She frowned at him. "What freedom is that? There are Overseers surrounding us, and they ain't particularly friendly."

  "But do you notice how few of them there are compared to us? They can't have eyes and ears everywhere like they have in the city. Resistance groups meet regularly here. We're gaining strength and numbers with each transport full of servants exiled from the city."

  Resistance? The slaves have been planning a revolt? Olivia's spirits rose. Perhaps there was a way to get home and set this world to rights after all? She didn't want to sound too interested, however, in case her pushy behavior might turn him off and prevent her from joining their organization.

  "Valori tells me that only those who can't work hard enough to please the Pure Bloods are sent to the farms. Are you sure these are the type of people you want by your side to throw over the current order?"

  He furrowed his brow. "Of course. Who else but those who have been mistreated and misunderstood have the will to fight against their oppressors? Those who feel they're better off working for the Pure Bloods than running their own lives are the ones who aren't worthy to join our cause."

  "Lower your voice," she reminded him. "You don't want the Overseers to hear you, do you?" Olivia couldn't
help but smile at his enthusiasm and courage. He took her hand, put it to his lips, and gently kissed it. She blushed, but didn't take her hand from his as they sat closer together.

  "No worries. They don't understand us without their translator devices. If you notice, the drudges they have watching us at mealtimes don't wear them and couldn't care less what we're talking about." He squeezed her hand and grinned. "If you don't believe me, say something to the guard standing over to your left."

  "What would I say to him? He looks very annoyed. I can't tell him something like, 'Have a nice day, Mr. Drudge,' can I?"

  "Go ahead. He won't take any notice."

  Olivia looked at Hernando askance. "All right, I'll do it." She turned and waved at the hulking Overseer who stood with his hands planted firmly on his hips and a vacant expression permanently etched on his face. "Yoo-hoo, Mr. Drudge. Do you enjoy your work here at the farm, or would you rather work in town?"

  The Overseer blinked and stared at her for full five seconds as if she'd lost her mind but did nothing. After a moment he looked away and continued scanning the crowd.

  "You're right," she admitted. "He's oblivious to our conversation. We really can talk freely here."

  "We can. During the long rest period, the Resistance will meet and discuss our plans for the Day of Two Suns."

  "And how to get me home?" She batted her eyelashes at him.

  He laughed. "Perhaps. First we must gain control of the city and the Portal. Only the Portal can return you to your world—if you really wish to return."

  Olivia looked deep into Hernando's brown eyes and saw the longing there. She didn't like the idea of leaving him, but she had to return home. She owed it to her family and to the others kidnapped with her to try.

  She gave his hand a squeeze then let go, averting her eyes. "I have to go back. My parents are probably beside themselves with grief wondering what happened to me. Think of all the others who have gone missing. Somebody has to go back to let Earth know what has become of us."