The Strange

by Masha du Toit

  Ndlela pulled the diadem from his head. “Sinister,” he whispered.

  It took Isabeau a moment to understand. Then she realised that the tinkling dexter music that had been echoing down the corridor, had stopped playing.

  She hissed in frustration. Of all moments for the diadem to stop working!

  “Shh!” Ndlela stared a warning at her.

  There came the unmistakable sound of a door closing.

  “Is that her?” Isabeau breathed.

  “Must be.”

  Isabeau closed her eyes and ground her teeth in frustration. Now Missy would disappear again, and they might never find out what she’d been up to.

  Ndlela put a hand on her arm, as if he was afraid she might dash out into the corridor. For long moments the two of them sat, hardly breathing.

  Missy’s footsteps went scuffing down the corridor.

  When they dared, at last, to look, she was gone.

  “Oof.” Ndlela blew out a relieved breath then laughed softly. “Looks like she won’t be crashing in through the viewports tonight, at any rate.”

  “She might still do it,” Isabeau said hotly. “She’d definitely up to something.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Ndlela said. “My legs are cramping up.”

  ¤¤¤

  Isabeau was uncharacteristically quiet on the way back to their hiding place.

  Once there, she curled up in her corner, and Ndlela had to be the one to tell Tomas what had happened, and to assemble their supper, which was hard to do, blindfolded and relying on Danger’s sight through the diadem link.

  As it was, Danger scored more than his usual number of treats.

  Tomas seemed much better. He’d been sitting on one of the crates when they came in and had managed a solo trip to the toilet and back without too much trouble. He refused to take the diadem from Ndlela, saying that he didn’t really need it just then.

  Ndlela, after a weak attempt to persuade Tomas to change his mind, kept the diadem on. The visual input from Danger wasn’t all that helpful since, with Danger lying at his feet the viewpoint was too low, but it was still comforting to be able to see.

  “When can you take that bandage off?” Isabeau asked as she accepted her portion of food from Ndlela.

  He touched the blindfold. “Alex said two days, and that must have been more than two days ago.” He pressed his eyes carefully through the fabric. “But I don’t know whether it was for sure take it off, or whether he’d do more tests then, or what.”

  “You want me to have a look?”

  “I guess.” Ndlela put down his food and dusted the crumbs from his fingers. “Is it bright in here?”

  “There’s only the one colltorch, and I’ve got it more than half covered.”

  Ndlela slipped the blindfold up onto his forehead, fighting the urge to squinch his eyes closed.

  After a careful look, Isabeau sat back. “Looks normal to me. You going to try opening them?”

  But Ndlela had already slipped the bandage back down. “Not yet.”

  He knew it didn’t make sense. He’d been itching to take off the bandage since he left the lazaretto, but now that it came to it, the thought of what might happen if he opened his eyes was just too frightening.

  What if I can’t see? Or if I hurt my eyes permanently in some way, just because I didn’t wait long enough?

  He wished he could go back to the lazaretto to get Alex to examine him, but Isabeau would never allow that.

  Isabeau asked Tomas if he wanted her to look at his eyes, but he declined.

  “Better not mess with this bandage,” he said as shifted to find a more comfortable spot on the piece of cardboard he was using as a bed. “My eyes feel fine. But listen. There’s something I want to ask you. This airlock place. You’re sure it’s the one for the pod-ship?”

  “Absolutely sure,” Isabeau said. “Or is there more than one ship?”

  “No,” said Tomas. “But there’s more than one airlock. You’re sure that’s the one that they use to go to the maintenance ship?”

  “That’s what Sparks told me.”

  “And you think this woman is going to do something with the pod-ship?”

  “She’s definitely up to something,” Ndlela said reluctantly. “She had a whole pack of things with her. Maybe she thinks she can use the ship to fly to one of the other Eyes.”

  “She can’t, can she?” asked Isabeau.

  “Of course not,” said Ndlela. “But she might not know that.”

  “The thing is,” Tomas said slowly, “she can do some real damage with that pod-ship, if she doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

  “That’s what I said!” Isabeau couldn’t keep the triumph from her voice.

  Tomas held up his hand. “It’s serious. I only thought about it now, when I was waiting for you guys to come back. You remember those carillon structures I showed you, on the model? Looked sort of like flower petals?”

  “Sure,” said Ndlela.

  “The model was too small to show the full setup out there.” Tomas paused to take a swallow from their bottle of water. “There are these—Sparks called them filaments. Between the carillon fins. Like a whole web of them, stretched out around the Eye. They’re part of what makes the portals work. And they’re pretty essential. Sparks was going on about how he’s not even allowed to touch them, not even for maintenance.

  “Only strangeside technicians ever get to do that, and they wouldn’t tell him anything about how the stuff works or what it does. He thinks it’s something to do with operating the gates into the Real and Strange. He showed me pictures, but they’re hard to see. Thin, like wires. They’re out of reach of anyone just out there walking around in a space-suit, but I’m wondering what will happen if...”

  His voice faded out, and the three of them sat in silence for a moment.

  “What will happen,” Ndlela said softly, “if Missy crashed through them with the pod-ship?”

  “If Sparks is right,” Tomas said, “those filaments operate the gates. If they’re damaged, we’ll be stuck here in the Eye. If the gates stop working, we’ll just be a bubble drifting in the void. A bubble with only so much air—” Then he seemed to remember his audience. “That’s nonsense. We’ve got all those algae-reactors scrubbing the air and making new oxygen.”

  But what about food? And medicine? Ndlela didn’t speak his thought out loud.

  “You really think that might happen?” said Isabeau.

  Tomas lay back. “I don’t know.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “You guys are the ones who know this woman. Do you think she might really be planning something like that? Messing about with the pod-ship?”

  Ndlela waited for Isabeau to respond, since she’d been so certain up to now. When she didn’t, he said, “I think Missy’s up to something. She’s definitely got some kind of plan, and we know for a fact, now, that she’s going into that airlock room. We saw her do it.”

  Tomas gave a nod. “That’s true.” He turned his blind face towards Isabeau. “Isabeau, I know you don’t want to go to Dolly with this, but I don’t think we have a choice. It’s just too risky.”

  Isabeau looked down at her hands.

  “Do you understand?”

  “Yes!” Isabeau snapped. “I understand, of course I understand. But I still think Dolly won’t believe us, and we’ll be locked up, and Missy will still go and do whatever she’s doing. And then it will be even worse, because we won’t be able to stop her!”

  Tomas shrugged wearily. “You might be right, but that’s a chance we’ll have to take.”

  After that, nobody said much. They finished eating and tried to make their beds more comfortable.

  Isabeau curled up under her blankets, and soon she was fast asleep. Ndlela stayed awake longer, but at last his eyes drifted closed, and he allowed sleep to claim him.

  When he woke, he knew at once that something was wrong. Even without the diadem, he knew Isabeau was gone. Fumbling around in their hiding place
confirmed what he’d feared.

  Isabeau was not there, and her backpack was missing too, so she’d not just slipped out to go to the toilet.

  Once the diadem was in place, he was able to confirm her absence through Danger’s senses.

  Tomas lay deeply asleep, and didn’t respond to Ndlela’s attempts to wake him.

  “Where’s she gone?” Ndlela asked Danger, still too befuddled with sleep to bother framing his question as one that could be answered with a yes or no signal.

  To Ndlela’s surprise, the gardag’s view of the interior of the can was replaced by another view. It showed the corridor to the airlock room, with Isabeau at the door. She gestured peremptorily at Ndlela — No, Ndlela realised, she was gesturing at Danger—and told him to stop following her and go back to their hiding place.

  The image bled away, leaving Ndlela staring open mouthed at Danger.

  “You saw that? I mean— You recorded that?”

  He put his hand on Danger’s head and felt him flip his ears into the “yes” position.

  “I didn’t know you could do that!” Ndlela laughed in disbelief. “If we’d only... Oh man.”

  Despite his worry, he had an almost overwhelming urge to laugh. Here they’d been trying to find proof of Missy’s presence in the Eye, and all along they’d had a living, breathing recording machine right there with them.

  No time to think of that now. Right now, he had to get to that airlock room. Maybe there was still time to stop Isabeau.

  “How long— Sorry. Has she been gone for more than half an hour?”

  No, Danger signalled.

  Ndlela jumped up. “Then there might be time to stop her. It’s still night out there, right? Not that many people about?”

  Yes.

  Ndlela tried to wake Tomas again, shaking him urgently by the arm. This time Tomas grumbled and stirred.

  “Tomas,” said Ndlela. “Listen— Isabeau’s gone. I’ve got to go look for her.”

  “She’s what?” Tomas pawed at the water bottle and knocked it over. Luckily, its cap was on and no water spilled. Ndlela retrieved the bottle, opened it, and put it into Tomas’s hand.

  “Issy. She’s gone. She’s left. I’m going to look for her.” Ndlela hesitated for a moment, then ploughed on. “I’ll have to take Danger, or I won’t be able to see. Is that okay?”

  Tomas wiped his mouth. “Go,” he said. “I can’t go, I’ll just slow you down. You think she’s gone after Missy? Would she do that?”

  “She might,” Ndlela said grimly. “Issy can be pretty stubborn.”

  Tomas grunted and turned on his side, a forearm over his bandaged eyes. “Go,” he said. “You better go.”

  Ndlela didn’t wait any longer. As quickly as he could, he worked his way along, out of the can, along the corridor to the hatch into the shell-cavity and on, until he was at the airlock room.

  He slipped inside and closed the door behind Danger.

  So far, so good. Nobody had seen him. But the room was empty. Isabeau was nowhere to be seen.

  Could she have gone back? But Ndlela knew that was an empty hope.

  One of the locker hatches stood open, revealing a row of rubbery suits.

  For a moment, Ndlela leaned against the wall, feeling dizzy. Isabeau had gone outside. Outside the Eye, out into the void. He knew she was impulsive, and she’d made no secret of her wish to follow Missy through the airlock, but he’d never thought she’d actually do it, all by herself.

  Or maybe she hadn’t? How could he be sure? If only Danger had followed her into the airlock room. Then he’d have access to a recording, to see just what it was Isabeau had done.

  But of course, Danger might not need a recording. He could use his nose.

  “Danger, has Isabeau gone through there?” Ndlela pointed at the hatch to the airlock.

  Danger snuffled loudly at the hatch, concentrating on the handle, and then signalled a clear yes.

  Ndlela swallowed hard. “You’re sure? And did she come back?”

  No.

  “So, you think she’s still out there?”

  Yes.

  Ndlela stared at Danger, feeling sick.

  What the hell do I do now? He wanted to sink down onto the floor. Stop freaking out. Try to think. What are the facts?

  Isabeau wanted to go out of the airlock. Why? To see what Missy was up to. He didn’t think she’s be going to confront the woman, not all alone, by herself. But she might want to get to the pod-ship. Maybe she thought she could disable it, somehow.

  Ndlela took a deep a breath, trying to push down the panic. It was far too easy to picture horrible scenarios. Isabeau asphyxiating herself or dying from decompression. Isabeau drifting off into the void. After all, there would be no gravity holding her onto the Eye, would there? From the little he knew about it, the gravity in the Eye was generated only inside its walls.

  Focus. One thing at a time.

  She knew how to put on a space suit. How? Somebody had shown her how.

  Ndlela let his hand fall on Danger’s armour-plated shoulder.

  “Danger. Were you around, when Isabeau was learning how to put on one of these suit things?” Ndlela pointed at the open locker.

  Danger flicked his ears into the yes position.

  “You were?” Ndlela could hardly believe his luck.

  Yes.

  “Okay. Okay. Can you show me? Do you have it recorded?”

  Ndlela’s view of the airlock room was replaced by a slightly different version of that room, seen from a different angle. Isabeau was there, and with her, a skinny glim.

  Ndlela suppressed the urge to call out to Isabeau. She wasn’t really there, not now. What he saw was Danger’s recording of a past event.

  Ndlela watched, hardly daring to breathe, as the glim stepped Isabeau through the process of choosing and putting on a space-suit.

  It was not perfect, since Danger wasn’t close enough to see all the details, but the audio track made up for that. The glim’s explanation was both patient and thorough.

  Ndlela forced himself to ignore the panicked internal voice urging him to move move move and viewed the recording several times. At last, he could delay no longer. He sat stared blankly at the locker.

  Am I really going to do this?

  Maybe he should go find some adult. Convince them that...

  But that really would take too long. He’d already wasted too much time.

  His fingers strayed up to the diadem. What about this, then? One thing was certain. He could not take Danger out into the void. Apart from anything else, there wasn’t a suit for him.

  Danger was his eyes. Without him, he’d be blind.

  Swallowing dryly, Ndlela pushed the bandage up onto his forehead, and then took it off completely. For a moment he sat there, heart thundering, with his eyes squeezed closed.

  Come on. Let’s do this.

  He opened his eyes and blinked against the unfamiliar light.

  I can see.

  The relief was like a blast of fresh, cool air. His eyes were fine. He was fine. The light was bright, but he was already getting used to it.

  But hadn’t Alex said something about that? That he might have to wear shades for a few days, since bright light might hurt his eyes?

  Can’t help that. Just mustn’t look at anything too bright.

  Now that he’d made the decision, everything came more easily.

  Finding a suit in the right size was the easiest part, as the suits were neatly arranged by size. Putting it on was more difficult than he’d expected. He double checked the size again. The thing seemed far too small, but apparently that was the way it worked.

  He had to put the diadem back on to recheck a few of the steps, but soon he had himself strapped and fastened in. Despite his worry, he admired the excellent design of every aspect of the suit. The shape of the fasteners told him which way they should go, and it was impossible to connect things any way but the way they were supposed to go.

  Next, he fo
und the little backpack with oxygen bottles, and checked that it was in working order. He strapped it on, pulled up the suit’s hood, screwed on the helmet, and tested it. The air tasted odd, but it flowed easily enough.

  Ndlela’s eye fell on Danger, who was lying near the airlock hatch, watching him uneasily.

  “Danger, I’ve got to go out there. I think Isabeau is there, and she might be in trouble. Can you go back to Tomas?”

  Danger signalled an affirmative.

  “Here.” He handed the gardag the diadem. Danger took it carefully between his teeth. He was still looking at Ndlela, as if unsure what was expected of him.

  “Go to Tomas,” Ndlela said. He held the door open for the gardag. “Go on. He needs you.”

  Danger set off down the corridor, and Ndlela closed the door, trying to ignore how much he already missed the reassuring presence of the gardag.

  “Okay.” Ndlela swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “Now for the airlock.”

  Shutting himself into the airlock was straightforward as well. The little space was plastered with images explaining the lock’s operation.

  First, lock the inner hatch.

  He shoved the hatch shut and rotated the locking mechanism until it showed a green symbol.

  Then, pump out the air.

  This involved pulling down a lever and locking it into place by moving it into a notch. A slight vibration told him that the pump had started, and soon enough the suit loosened around him as the air pressure dropped and the airlock became a vacuum.

  Next the outer hatch.

  Ndlela took hold of the handle, then paused. His heart was thumping so hard his blood thundered in his ears, and he realised that he was holding his breath. That’s no good. Must be calm.

  He forced himself to take one breath after another, not too deep, not too fast.

  Okay. Let’s do it.

  Opening that hatch was one of the hardest things Ndlela had ever done. The handle turned easily enough but pushing on the hatch itself to make it slide aside felt like something from a nightmare.

  Here we go. Here we go. I can do this.

  The hatch opened. After a few more heartbeats, Ndlela made himself peer through the gap. Almost immediately he jerked back inside the lock, eyes squeezed shut.