The Strange

by Masha du Toit

  Two of the overseers hoisted Elke unceremoniously to her feet. It took an effort not to throw up all over them.

  She must have passed out again, because the next thing, she was aware of was an icy rush as somebody emptied a bucket over her.

  She was lying on one of the wooden piers, in the harbour. A sea breeze ruffled the calm water just a few metres away.

  The overseer who’d dumped the water over her filled the bucket again, and Elke closed her eyes and mouth as the water sluiced over her again.

  “Enough!” Thandeka pushed him away. “You okay?” she asked Elke. “Sorry about that.”

  Somebody called out in a commanding voice, a man striding towards them. He had the bearing of a high-ranking official. Several soldiers trailed after him, apparently trying to get his attention.

  After some shouting and confusion, this man, who was apparently the harbour master, dismissed the sump-room overseers and replaced them with his own guards.

  One of these guards tried to take Thandeka by the arm but she spoke rapidly to the harbour master, waving her piece of paper again.

  One of the soldiers shot her an angry glance, and spoke over her in a loud, impatient voice, clearly continuing whatever argument he’d been having with the harbour master.

  “This might take a while,” Noor muttered to Elke. “You must be freezing.”

  Elke was shivering, but the icy water had helped to clear her head.

  “I’m okay.” She tried to wipe the worst of the wet from her face. Her voice was annoyingly weak and came out as a hoarse whisper. “But, how are you?” She wanted to ask so much more, but it hurt to speak.

  “I’m fine.” Noor squeezed Elke’s arm. “I’m really fine.”

  Elke looked searchingly at Noor. The girl looked tired, but her eyes were clear, and she showed no obvious signs of mistreatment.

  “Jinan?” Elke could only croak.

  Noor looked away. “They killed her.”

  “Oh.” Elke lay back on the pier, the punch of Noor’s news taking the wind out of her.

  Thandeka was still arguing with the harbour master. Her tone was deferential, but she was holding her own. The guards had moved between the soldiers and the harbour master, and the two sets of men were glaring at one another. Elke realised that she had to make the most of this chance to talk to Noor, while they were unobserved.

  “How the hell did you find me?” she asked.

  “Just in the nick of time?” A smile touched Noor’s lips. “You were very, very lucky. Mom spotted that you were on a watch-list, right there on the wall in the medic’s common room.”

  “A watch-list?”

  “Yes. Apparently, you asked a medic for pain medication.”

  “I did.” Elke closed her eyes briefly. So that slave-court medic had done something about her suspicions after all. She felt like laughing, but didn’t quite dare, in case she was sick again.

  Noor was still talking. “It was just as well you did. They thought you were up to no good and put you on the watch-list. It gave Mom an excuse to access your records It made it a lot easier to find you. She got that guy, Esseret Sadh, to help her. We tracked you down to that horrible place with all the pipes.”

  “And how did you find her?”

  “You mean Mom?” Noor moved to sit on the edge of the pier, her feet dangling in the water.

  The guards had started an argument with the soldiers, who were still trying to get the harbour master’s attention. Thandeka was listening to him now, her arms folded, her expression unimpressed.

  “She found me. I was about to be...” Noor stared out over the harbour, then looked down at her hands. “They killed Jinan. And that old guy, you know, the sad one. From Niger.”

  “Samuel.”

  Noor nodded. “It was—” Her lips tightened. “They just killed them. Just like that.” She pulled a strand of her hair forward and started twisting it. “Anyway, they were inspecting us, I guess to figure out which bits of us they wanted to keep, or what we could be used for, and Mom showed up.”

  “She’s a medic here.” Elke shifted herself into a more comfortable position on the hard boards of the pier.

  “That’s right.” Noor looked out across the harbour. “You remember, I told you she’s a midwife? That’s why she survived here so long. She’s useful to them. Started as a midwife assistant and worked herself up to slave-medic.”

  “So, she intervened to save you.”

  “She did.” Noor pulled another strand of hair into the twist. “That’s what she does. Helps them process condemned slaves. Especially children. They use children and teenagers for organ harvesting. Mom fiddles with the documents, makes it look like a child would be more useful being trained up for something. She saves as many as she can. That’s what she’s been doing, all the time she’s been gone. Working with these people.”

  Noor seemed interested in nothing but the strand of hair between her fingers, and the silence stretched awkwardly between them.

  The day was drawing to an end, and fewer people were at work among the boats and sheds. The bit of sky visible outside the harbour cave was darkening rapidly. Lights were coming on in the over-arching inner wall, throwing gleams and shadows out over the water.

  A splash drew Elke’s eyes towards a group of menha sporting in the water. A few more were resting on a nearby pier, murmuring and laughing. One of them dived into the water.

  Noor’s head turned as she followed the swimming figure. “Who are those?” She squinted, trying to see better. “They’re bio-hacked, aren’t they? That guy has gills just like Kiran’s.”

  “Gills, and fins, and lots more than that.” Elke levered herself up into a sitting position. Her head still ached, but the nausea seemed to be in retreat. “They’re the real thing. They’re called menha, and we really need to talk to them. I think they might be able to help us get out of here.”

  “Really?” Noor sat forward, her gaze sharpening.

  “They’re in charge of getting cargo out of the harbour,” Elke explained. “Kiran says they’re on strike, because they won’t have anything to do with the slave trade.”

  “That fits.” Noor gave a nod. “Mom told me that there’s a secret network of people helping slaves escape. Esseret Sadh’s part of it, but she did say something about smuggling people out to sea.” She shot Elke a glance. “You think these guys might be involved in that? What did you call them—menha?”

  “That’s right.” Elke looked back to where Thandeka was still arguing with the harbour master.

  The guards and soldiers blocked the way off the pier, but there was nothing stopping herself or Noor moving towards the menha. The guards had broken off their argument with the soldiers to watch Thandeka, who was in full flow, eyes flashing as she faced off with the harbour master.

  Elke hesitated for a moment longer, then took the plunge. “I think you should go talk to the menha.”

  “Me?” Noor looked taken aback. “Shouldn’t you go?”

  A gust of laughter rose from the group of menha. One of them flipped backward off the pier and bombed into the water, splashing his companions.

  “They’d never listen to me,” said Elke. “I don’t know the language, remember? You can speak— What’s it called? Trade-talk?”

  “Kazi?” Noor sounded doubtful. “Sure, I can speak a bit of it, but I’m not all that good...”

  Elke came to a decision, ignoring the doubts that were clamouring for attention. It was risky, it was true, but this might be their only chance to connect with the menha.

  “Listen, Noor.” She spoke quickly, before her doubts could get the upper hand. “You should go speak to them. Right now. See if they will help us.”

  “You’re sure?” Noor watched as a menha, young and female, stood, poised at the end of the pier. One of her companions called out, and the menha-girl flung herself high into the air, flipped over, and plunged into the water so neatly that it hardly raised a splash.

  “You’ll do bette
r by yourself,” said Elke. “Less likely those guards will notice if only one of us moves. And anyway, I’ll just faint or something, if I try get up now.”

  Noor never took her eyes off the menha.

  “Go on,” said Elke. “We might not have a chance like this again.”

  That was all the encouragement Noor needed. She started down the pier.

  Elke felt a twinge of worry but it was too late for second thoughts. If she called Noor back now, the guards would definitely hear her. Even watching Noor was risky, but she could not make herself look away.

  One of the menha, a young man by his broad-shouldered, slim-waisted silhouette, had already spotted Noor’s limping approach. He said something, and Noor replied, but Elke could not make out their voices against the background roar of the breakers.

  She tensed, ready to rise despite the weakness that still dragged at her.

  Laugher drifted towards her, and the young man’s teeth flashed in a smile. His companions turned to look at Noor. She seemed unconcerned at their scrutiny, but Elke could not help remembering that earlier confrontation, back on the Babylon Eye, when Mama Ukrebe had dismissed her. Had she set Noor up for another humiliation?

  A glance down the pier told Elke the guards were still distracted. Another medic had arrived, and from the look of Thandeka’s expression, things were not going her way.

  Elke positioned herself so that she could watch Noor without staring quite so obviously. The last thing she wanted was for the guards to notice what was going on.

  The young menha drew something from his arm—a bracelet? He tossed it into the water. Noor tucked her hair behind her ears, smiled, and dived into the water.

  Elke nearly gasped but forced herself into silence.

  The water seemed dark in the rapidly fading light, and she knew from recent experience just how cold it was.

  The menha on the pier all craned to see where Noor had gone, and those already in the water submerged. The young man stood on the edge of the pier. Lamplight gleamed on the sleek fur that covered his body.

  For long seconds Elke waited, hands clenched. She told herself that Noor was an experienced diver. After all, she used to take tourists on dives to into the flooded parts of Kaapstadt. But she’d had diving equipment then, and here she had nothing but her own lungs, and there was that weak ankle of hers—

  Elke’s mouth went dry as the seconds mounted.

  A burst of laughter rose from the gathered menha, followed by a cheer.

  What— Yes! A head had surfaced, hard to see among the white reflections cast by the lamps. A hand emerged from the water and flicked back long hair in a way that could only be Noor.

  The young man reached out to help her, but Noor swam backwards, holding up the bracelet. He laughed and dived in next to her. The two of them circled one another in the water.

  “Elke!”

  Elke jerked with surprise. Thandeka was back, accompanied by two of the guards. The harbour master was walking away, surrounded by soldiers.

  “Where’s Noor?” Thandeka looked around the pier.

  “She’s with the menha.” Elke hoped that the guards could not understand what they were saying. “In the water. Don’t let the guards know. Don’t look at them.”

  All the overseers from the sump-room had gone below again. There was a chance—a slim chance, it was true, but still a chance—that these guards would not realise that one of the slaves was missing.

  Thandeka’s eyes widened. “Right,” she said, staring down at Elke. For a moment she seemed at a loss for words, blinking rapidly as if her thoughts had stalled.

  One of the guards made an impatient gesture, and Thandeka pulled herself together. “Right. Listen.” She swallowed, and she closed her eyes for a moment. “They’re not letting me take you back to the infirmary. They’re insisting you have to go back to the slave-court, and they won’t let me go with you. But they’ve agreed to let me medicate you.”

  She knelt next to Elke and fumbled at her bag with shaking hands. After a bit of digging, she took out a roll of what looked like plastic film.

  “I’m going to put these patches on you. They’ll help you recover a bit faster, and deal with that headache.” She tore a piece off the roll. “Hold still, now.”

  Despite herself, Elke flinched from Thandeka’s hands. The movement was involuntary, and it embarrassed her. To her relief, Thandeka didn’t comment on this reaction. She just smoothed a patch on Elke’s wrist, and another on her forehead. “There. That should do for the moment. Noor’s with the menha?”

  Thandeka’s voice didn’t change with the change of topic, and her eyes stayed away from the water.

  “That’s right,” said Elke. “And it looks like these guards haven’t noticed. She’ll be safe with them, won’t she?”

  Thandeka gave her a distracted nod, pushing on her knees to help herself stand. “I’ll get Sadh to collect her. And I’ll see what I can do to get you out of the slave-court. You just sit tight there and don’t get into any trouble.”

  “Kiran’s there, too,” Elke said, but the guards were already hoisting her to her feet, and she wasn’t sure if Thandeka had heard.

  The last thing she saw, as the guards half carried, half dragged her, was Thandeka darting a look over her shoulder, to where the menha gathered on the pier.

  ¤¤¤

  By the time the guards got Elke back to the slave-court, her head was pounding, and it was an effort to walk by herself. She managed to make her way through the crowd of slaves to the door of the can-stack without collapsing.

  The pugio who opened the door to her gave her a blank look, and for a moment Elke thought he was going to close it in her face. She leaned against the door frame while he looked her over, and after a moment he stepped back and let her enter.

  She could feel the change in the atmosphere as soon as she stepped inside. The conversation dropped, and people turned to look at her, their expressions shuttered.

  They were all strangers. Elke looked around with a sinking feeling. If only Barb and Nehi were still around, but they’d said they would be away for more than a month.

  Elke walked through the room and out into the back, where the water trough was. She had been trying not to think about what might have been happening to Kiran, so it was an unexpected relief to find that Kiran was already there, bathing in the trough.

  A muttering behind her made her turn. Several of the pugios had followed her. Some looked warily at her, but most of them were eyeing the water trough. Elke couldn’t blame them. It was an unsettling sight—Kiran, fully submerged, and still as a corpse under her shroud of skritti.

  Elke put her hand in the water and touched Kiran’s shoulder.

  Kiran sat up, carefully wiping away the skritti still clinging to her face and neck. “What happened to you?” She blinked water from her eyes. “Shit, Elke, what the hell?”

  “It’s not so bad.” Elke rinsed her hands and dipped her face in the water. Bending forward made her feel queasy, but the cold water helped the pain.

  She wanted to tell Kiran about Noor and Thandeka, but not under the hostile glare of the pugios. It would have to wait until they had a little more privacy.

  “Kiran,” she said instead, “I think you’d better get out of the water. You’re freaking these people out.”

  “What?” Kiran looked at the pugios, who stared back at her. “Oh.”

  She stood and stepped out of the trough.

  “My god, Elke. You look like something chewed you up and spat you out. What happened to you?” Kiran touched Elke’s cheek. “Damn. And I used all the meds. You look like you need them way more than me!”

  “Let’s go make a fire,” said Elke. “I have a lot to tell you.”

  The pugios stepped back to let them pass, but their faces were stiff and unsmiling. They spoke to one another, and Elke caught the word “menha” more than once.

  “They think I’m menha,” Kiran said under her breath as she headed for the ladder. “I
guess I should have been more careful about them seeing I have gills.”

  “But why would that worry them?” Elke followed Kiran, climbing slowly and with care. She still felt far from steady. “The menha are sympathetic to the slaves, aren’t they?”

  “These guys are pugios, remember?” Kiran opened the trap door at the top and helped Elke through. “It’s their job to stop other slaves from escaping. No wonder they’re not charmed by the menha.”

  Up on the roof, Kiran insisted that Elke sit and rest while she got the fire started. It was only when the blaze was going strongly, and she’d draped her wet jacket over a crate so that it could dry in the heat of the fire, that Kiran finally settled down.

  “So, what happened to you?” She looked at Elke with concern. “Wait. I forgot to get the bisc. If there’s even any left by now—”

  She made as if to get up, but Elke put a hand on her arm. “No. Wait, Kiran. This is more important. And I don’t think I can eat, anyway.”

  “You have to eat—”

  “No. Listen. I found Noor and Thandeka. Or really, it was the other way around. They found me.”

  Kiran sank back down, her mouth open. “You found— Are they—”

  “They’re okay. They’re fine, as far as I know.” Elke passed a hand over her face. “Sorry. I’m a bit rattled. So much has happened. Can I just— I need to—”

  “Okay.” Kiran took Elke’s hand and held it in both of hers. “I won’t interrupt. Just tell me.”

  The story came out in bits. Elke tried to stick to the essential facts, then had to backtrack to explain how Thandeka had found Noor, and how the two of them had knowns where to look for Elke.

  Kiran grew still as Elke explained about the watch-list, and how she’d inadvertently raised the medic’s suspicions by asking for pain medication.

  “I’m sorry.” Elke met Kiran’s gaze. “That was stupid of me, to ask for those meds. It immediately made them suspicious. I should have told you but I didn’t want to worry you.”

  Kiran gave a stiff shrug and let go of Elke’s hand. “You should have told me, but I can’t really be pissed at you, can I? Turns out it saved your life. But where are they now? Noor and Thandeka?”