by Eden Wolfe
“In order to manage your basic needs during this lockdown, one member of the household may go to the market area. They must register their identifier number, collect the bag that has been pre-positioned, and then return straight home, without any detour or social interaction.”
Trudith could feel Anna shaking. The woman’s nerves had been fraught since the lockdown had been announced earlier that day. Trudith understood Anna’s anxiety, and she didn’t know how to help, except by holding her in one arm and their rations in the other.
Members of the Guard lined Cork Row. No one was allowed to take the back roads. All egress had to be managed through Cork Row. Appropriate distancing. One side for those heading in and another side of the Row for those heading out. Trudith could tell just by looking that the Guard had been briefed on their mission. They were stern and formal. No place for discussion or explanations.
This is the day to do as we’ve been told. If we can manage to not stand out on this day, then we might be able to make it through the next.
Trudith heard steps behind them falling into the same rhythm as their pace. Many citizens of Cork Town had gone for the rations distribution, as they’d never really been able to stock the so-called mandatory necessities as demanded by Geb policy. But there was something off-putting about the woman’s steps behind them. Trudith tightened her grip on Anna and led her to walk a little faster. Anna raised her head and looked sideways towards Trudith but did not say a word. Instead, Anna quickened her step.
And so did the steps behind them.
“I need to talk to you.”
Trudith and Anna pretended they didn’t hear.
“No, really,” the woman whispered, “I have a message. From Roman.”
Trudith and Anna stopped immediately, but neither of them turned around.
“Keep walking,” the woman said, “Let’s try not to stand out. I’ll catch up with you.” The steps behind them approached, nearly beside them. Trudith hazarded a quick glance. The woman was young, dressed a little strangely. Dressing strangely was hard to do in Cork Town, for the standard-issue fabrics were the only ones that had been available to them for the last ten years.
This woman was not from Cork Town.
“I am a Sister. From the Strangelands. I know of your situation. My name is Adel, and if I am not wrong, Daphna will be very interested in meeting you. In fact, we may be your last chance. Roman didn’t dare come lest it bring you too much into the light. But you must understand something here, you are being sought out...”
Trudith looked at Anna. This is the worst possible scenario.
“By the Queen herself.”
“By the Queen? Us?” Anna’s voice was quiet but high pitched. “Why us?”
“I think you know why,” the Sister looked down at Arin who gave no response. “I know why. I know about him. And it seems the Queen does, too.”
Anna started to tremble. Trudith felt her breathing go shallow.
The Sister leaned into them, “Don’t worry. It’s Roman who alerted me to you, he’s giving us the head start we need. I’ll get you to Daphna, she’ll want to meet you. I know her. She’ll want to help. This child is even more important than you could understand. We’ll get out of Cork Town.”
“Yes,” Arin’s little voice spoke. “We must go.”
“Get out of Cork Town?” Trudith shook her head, “You can’t just ‘get out of Cork Town’.”
“We can,” Adel leaned in. “We know our ways though - ”
“Hey, you!”
All of them froze. Arin in arms gasped and Trudith saw Anna pull him more tightly into her.
“What do you think you’re doing? You’ve been told clearly over the screens, no socializing. I want to see your papers.”
Panic struck at Trudith’s heart. The Sister’s head snapped in her direction and then to Anna as Anna stood wide-eyed, staring at the guard.
“Hurry up with it!” The guard grew taller before her, arms pulling back into a formal posture, her hands tensing. Trudith saw another guard approaching from behind, likely to give her comrade some support.
This was bad, all bad. Trudith had to do something, and she had to do it now.
“What’s the matter with you?” Trudith shouted, “We’re just getting our food!”
“Trudith, hush up!” Anna leaned toward her.
Trudith shoved Anna aside and pointed in the guard’s face, “I said, what’s the matter with you? You come in here, into our city, our commune, you have no place here! You have no right!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Trudith saw the Sister take a couple of steps backward. She hoped the Sister understood what she was trying to do. She needed the Sister to understand. And she needed the Sister to take Anna and Arin out of harm’s way.
“You’ve got some nerve, deviant. We are here on Royal declaration. You are here on borrowed time. And if you’re not careful, that time is going to run out quick.”
“Completely ridiculous!” Trudith shook her head vigorously. “Locking us down? We’re already in a lockdown here! Controlled and confined. Treated like trash. All for what? Because of the conditions we were born with?”
The other guard reached them, “What’s going on here?”
“This woman is pushing her luck, that’s what’s going on. And I’m losing my patience.”
“Patience?” Trudith swaggered toward the guard, or rather, she did her best impression of a swagger. The Sister and Anna were off to the side now, not quite yet safe, but out of the immediate scene. Her scene. “You all have stomped over our dignity for long enough. Taken away all our most basic freedoms. It’s unjust!” Trudith threw her hands in the air and stepped again closer to the guard.
“Watch it,” the guard warned.
“Watch what? Watch a dog obey its master? Be hunted by the jaws of a rabid animal? You’re no better than that. No better than the Queen’s bitch.”
Trudith didn’t see the fist coming, but she felt it when it landed on her cheekbone. The force of it spun her, just in time to see Anna and the Sister slip down the alleyway. She landed on her stomach on the gravel with a thud. Something on her face was bleeding. But she smiled at the vision of Anna’s back running away.
And then she felt a boot in her ribs.
“Big words for a deviant. And unwise words at that.”
Another kick in her side, and Trudith heard the ribs crack. She didn’t yet feel the pain; she found herself living on another plane, watching it happening to her, but feeling nothing.
But then she felt a hand pulling her up by the hair, bringing her back onto her feet.
“Look at this!” The guard shouted, leading Trudith in a circle to face all sides of Cork Row. There were maybe a hundred women and a couple of men who watched. Trudith could see it wasn’t by their choice; the horror on their faces as she was led on this sick merry-go-round spin told her she was being used as an example. “Perhaps you all have your opinions about the Guard. Perhaps even deviants can dare to imagine the chance to stand up to us. Today is not the day to challenge us, people of Cork Town. You are under a general lockdown, and this woman here dares to defy its principle. Here we are, the Queen’s Guard, here to help you avoid this disease, to preserve your lives, and she calls us dogs. Dogs? Tell me, people of Cork Town, what should be done with someone who calls her protectors dogs? What punishment is appropriate? You tell me!”
It was getting harder to breathe. Trudith’s ribs were broken, no doubt, and now she was beginning to wonder if it was even worse than that.
“Speak up, people of Cork Town, what do we do with this woman?”
“For heaven’s sake, Mart. None of them are going to say anything. Why are you putting on such a show?” The other guard crossed her arms. Trudith thought she looked bored.
“I’m asking them a question,” the guard spoke with her voice still elevated so that all could hear her. “I want to know what they think is the right punishment for this act.”
“Well, I fo
r one do not have the time to play silly games with the deviants of Cork Town.” The other guard took in a deep breath, “People of Cork Town, I don’t expect you to reply. Therefore, be advised, behavior that violates the lockdown will be punished. Behavior that insults the Guard shall receive its due reward.” She pulled her baton from her belt and lifted it high. In a powerful and swift swoop, she brought it down into Trudith’s left knee.
Trudith crumpled onto the ground.
I’m watching from above. This body is temporary. Just a box. A broken box.
“Show’s over,” the second guard put the baton back into her belt strap. “Now get back into position, Mart. No more playing games with the deviants.”
Trudith waited until the guards had returned to their positions further along Cork Row. She felt the eyes of people passing by, but she knew all of them were smarter than to try to help her. She crawled on her side towards the alleyway. She didn’t let her brain feel the pain. That could come later. For now, she just had to get home.
When she reached the entry to the sixteenth alleyway, a voice above her in the apartment block gasped.
“It’s her, she’s coming,” Anna hissed, presumably to the Sister.
Trudith was starting to lose her peripheral vision. She had staved off the pain but now couldn’t see straight. She heard their steps rushing toward her, she felt their arms underneath her, pulling her up. But she couldn’t see it happening.
“She’s passing out.”
“That’s to be expected, after what she’s gone through.”
They brought her into her own apartment, her feet dragging behind. She couldn’t seem to make them work. No words would come out of her mouth. No words even crossed her mind.
She felt the softness of her mattress underneath her, a hand lifting her head placing a pillow underneath it. She closed her eyes. She was so tired. Just a little rest.
Murmuring voices from the kitchen wove their way into the edge of her hearing as she blinked her dry eyes open.
“Don’t have long - ”
“But she can’t move - ”
“Maybe figure out something - ”
“But to cross on foot?”
Trudith coughed. It hurt throughout her whole body, waves of pain finally catching up with her.
Anna and the Sister rushed into the room. Anna sat on the bed beside her, brushing the hair off her forehead.
“Hi there, how are you doing? Actually don’t answer that. I’m sure even speaking will hurt right now.”
Trudith swallowed hard and nodded her head.
“We’ve been talking about a plan,” Anna continued, “The Sisters know a way out. Climbing through the sewers. It’s a maze down there, but Daphna knows her way around. Daphna is the one leading the Sisters now. And then we’ll have to hike. All the way. Some carts might be able to join us at around halfway point, but it’ll be several days on foot.”
Trudith saw Anna’s face flinch as she blinked back tears.
“But I’ll wait for you, Trudith.” Anna closed her eyes, “When you’re feeling better, when you’re feeling strong. Adel here says we have to go, but I’m not going without you.”
“Yes, you are,” Trudith lifted her hand and put it on Anna’s knee.
“I can’t, Trudith. We are the only ones left here together. Everyone else is just looking out for themselves. I can’t leave you…”
“Yes, you can, and you will.” Trudith tried to lift herself to sit up, but shooting pain ran throughout her body.
Adel stepped forward, coaxing Trudith back, “Stay still now, it’s going to be bad for a while. But I looked you over. It will take time, but you will heal. No internal bleeding from what I can tell, but we will find a medic to at least check you.”
Anna was shaking her head.
Trudith tapped Anna’s knee. “Listen. You have to think about more than yourself. More than me. You have to think about Arin, and you have to think about what this all represents.” Trudith pulled herself just a little closer to Anna, ignoring the pain, “I have my satisfaction knowing I helped you to get away.”
Anna’s voice was quiet, “Without you, the Guard would have seen Arin, they would have seen that she’s a Sister, the Guard would have taken us if it weren’t for you.” Tears ran down Anna’s cheeks.
Trudith had never before really understood the concept of family that had been discussed in her Basics classes. It had been a relic of the world that no longer existed, so she had thought.
But looking on Anna and Arin now, the feeling inside her explained it all. She knew family. She knew the love of kinship. Even if their world insisted it didn’t exist anymore, Trudith knew better. And now she had to save them.
“I did it for this. I did it for you. I did it for Arin. Maybe one day in our lifetimes this world will look different and we won’t have to hide anymore. Until then, you’ve got to run.” She squeezed Anna’s leg as hard as she could, “You’ve got to run, Anna, and never come back.”
33
Uma
Uma stared at the sequence before her. One more look at Elgin, anything so that she wouldn’t be dependent on Daphna. Anything. Just the thought of her dependence on Daphna to meet her basic responsibilities to overcome Elgin made Uma’s stomach turn.
If only I could figure this one out on my own. It would be the beginning of my legacy. Into the history books. No more talking about overcoming the Mist, they’ll talk about overcoming Elgin. The catastrophe that was cut off at the pass by Uma of the nineteenth line.
She knew it was an unrealistic dream. Everything in Elgin so far had outsmarted her, out sequenced her, out analyzed her. Without Daphna, Elgin was going to run amok.
If Lucius were here, Lucius could solve it. He could’ve snapped his fingers and solved it.
Just like Daphna did.
Uma’s body shot up straight.
Lucius and Daphna? A genetic relationship? It hardly seems possible. Lucius was careful with his own DNA sequence. And how could I even go about finding out? I could maybe compel Daphna to provide hers, but to what end? I would have nothing to compare it against. Sure, Daphna is smart. But is she brilliant like Lucius was?
She asked herself the question but she already had the answer. Only Lucius would have figured out Elgin. They may look nothing alike, but deep down Uma knew, Daphna had something of Lucius’ code.
It would be like Lucius to do that, to plant it in an otherwise unsuspecting embryo. To bypass their protocols. To go rogue. It was practically the only way that Lucius worked.
Does Daphna know? She might have her suspicions, but does she know?
It didn’t matter if Daphna knew or not, or rather, it wouldn’t matter unless Daphna had designs on the Tower.
There was a time when she did. There was a time Daphna was intent on clawing her way up. She never said as much, but she would have been perfectly happy to be sitting in this chair on the nineteenth floor.
Uma felt her chest inflate with air. Her shoulders relaxed.
But it’s me now, Daphna. Genetic disposition or not, you are lost among the Sisters in the Strangelands. It’s me at the helm here.
It was her at the helm, and yet she was entirely incapable of making sense of the Elgin sequence right in front of her face. If anyone else found out, if anyone else knew that Daphna had what Uma would never have…
If it’s not my scientific capability that’s going to win this battle, it’s going to have to be my politics.
Uma looked out the window. From her desk, she could just see the top turrets of the fortress and then the forest and the sky beyond. The fortress had to be her strength. She needed the Queen on her side. She needed the Commandante to be her protector. If she was going to keep her seat, she needed those with the greatest power to be her greatest allies.
A plan began to form in her mind.
A bang on the door yanked her out of her thoughts. Irene stepped in without being asked.
“Your timing is impeccable,” Uma stood
at her desk.
34
Irene
With each step, Irene’s resolve hardened. She had always been aware of her conscience, but now it screamed at her, louder than she knew a conscience could.
Too far. It’s all just gone too far. Settlers, ancestors, whoever is looking down on us, the Queen is right on one thing. They aren’t happy about this. This is not the world they want.
And starting right now, I will not serve it anymore.
More than thirty years in service at the fortress and Irene wondered what had come of it. She’d believed in it. Believed in the threats to Lower Earth. Believed the heathens of Upper Earth were coming. She’d believed the deviants were a drain on their society. She’d believed the Queen had the ability to see farther into the future than anyone else. She had believed it all.
I have let myself be fooled for more than thirty years. And for what? What has it all come to? A sociopath rules based on the voices embedded in her code. The voices are not divine. The voices are an anomaly.
The Queen is a deviant.
The Queen had given her a direct order, bring Gale back. But not just simply that: no, it could never be that straightforward. The Queen had demanded she bring her back tied like an animal. Dragged by her ankles if she refused. Tortured if need be.
There had been a time when Irene would have done it without blinking.
Irene marched out of the fortress but stopped when the sunlight hit her eyes. She blinked and looked down at her hands.
So much blood. These hands have spilled so much blood.
And for what?
No more.
The words echoed throughout her body. Her feet drove her forward, no more. Her hands, ever bloodied, never again. No more. It took her this long, but the time had come. Lower Earth was not the Lower Earth it was supposed to be.
