by Magus Tor
“Ready?” she asked, though she didn't know if she was asking Elza, Nicholas, or even herself.
Elza nodded, and Nicholas closed his eyes.
“Shouldn't you wait for the knife to cool down?” Elza asked as Aurelia stepped forward.
“Quite the opposite,” said Aurelia. “Hold his arm still.”
She was businesslike, emotionless, controlled. But inside she was terrified. She couldn't believe what she was about to do, but she knew she had to do it. Elza gripped Nicholas's arm above the elbow, lying it still and wrist up over the firm surface. Aurelia knelt and raised the knife. She had one shot at this, she knew. Cutting twice would probably do more damage than good; and besides, she didn't think she could stomach doing it twice. She took one deep breath.
Then, with all her might she forced the knife down. There was little resistance, much less than she had thought. In a split second it was done.
“Wound stick,” she said, dropping the knife to the floor.
But Elza was already taking care of it, the stick humming in her hand as she sealed over the few bleeding areas. “The hot knife cauterised the wound,” she said as she worked. “Interesting.”
“Sort of like an old-fashioned laser,” agreed Aurelia, bending to examine the wrist.
The wound was clean, the bones of the wrist visible but safely sealed by the wound stick. She nodded and got the package of clean bandages, carefully wrapping the stump of the wrist. Now that it was done, she had pride in her work. And it wasn't until the wrist was bandaged that she turned to Nicholas himself. He'd passed out, as she'd known he would from the sharp shock of the pain.
“Breathing fine, and heart rate slightly elevated but normal,” Elza said, checking.
“Give him an anti-infect shot and put a couple of pain patches on his upper arm,” Aurelia told her. “He'll be out for a while yet, hopefully.”
Elza did as she was told, checked Nicholas's breathing once again, then stood and stretched.
“That was incredible,” she said.
Aurelia nodded. It had been, she knew. But now her legs were shaking, and she could barely stand up. She wasn't stupid. She knew that she'd saved Nicholas's life with her actions, or at least the rest of his arm. But it didn't make it any easier knowing that she'd just cut off her friend's hand.
Elza put a hand on Aurelia's shoulder. “You are one of the most brilliant med Workers that I've ever had the pleasure to work with,” she said quietly. “You did your job. More than your job. You have no need to feel any guilt.”
Again she nodded. “I know, but...”
“But nothing,” said Elza. “Come on, we need to clean everything up before the others get back. We can't have them seeing this.”
There was one inescapable problem: Nicholas's hand. After a strange discussion, Aurelia dug a hole with the knife and buried the hand. What else was to be done with it? She was covering the hole back over with the soft, loamy soil when she heard the rustling of plants being moved and the sound of voices. The others were back.
She was standing up and wiping her brow when the foliage parted and the first figure stepped through. And for a moment, she thought that she'd lost her mind. He stood there, smiling, and she shook her head to clear it. It really was him. It was her father.
But what...? She didn't understand. Her mind started to whirl, and as her brain began to try to catch up with what her senses were telling her, her eyes started to blur. Her father was there.
Chapter Seven
It was all too much. The foliage around Aurelia began to close in, and the figure of her father swam in front of her eyes, and then blackness.
When she came to, she was aware that she was moving but didn't know how. Her head felt heavy on her shoulders, and she struggled to open her eyes. Even in the darkness, though, she knew her father was there; she could smell him—a spiced, familiar scent, and it comforted her. She must have moaned, though she wasn't sure how.
“It's okay, Aurelia, I'm here,” said his sweet, familiar voice.
Now she opened her eyes. She was being supported between her father and Jonathon, one arm around each of their necks, their hands intertwined below her providing a seat. It was oddly comfortable.
“We're getting close,” Jonathon said to her. “We'll explain everything when we arrive—promise, okay?”
She nodded. There was a deep, low whistle from in front of them.
“We need to be quiet now,” said her father. “Can you walk?”
Again, she nodded, though she wasn't sure that she could. Carefully, the two men lowered her to the ground, and for a moment she was afraid that her shaking legs wouldn't carry her. She clung onto Jonathon's shirt. Then balance reasserted itself, and she found she could stand unaided. Her father put his fingers to his lips, and she understood the gesture. Then he set off, walking in front of her with Jonathon behind.
She had no idea what was going on, not even a guess. There was no earthly reason that she could think of for her father to be here. Just nothing. For once, rather than trying to analyse the situation, she decided instead just not to think. She concentrated instead on the soft footsteps on the loamy ground, the saccharine stench of swamp water that was becoming more apparent, and the way the plants gently moved against each other.
After a few moments, she began to hear a strange sound, something like pudding coming out of a cup. It took her a second to realise that the sound was coming from her feet. Looking down, she saw that water welled up and sucked at her shoes with every step she took. Weird.
Two more of those deep, low whistles, and Aurelia saw her father's back relax a little. Obviously they had bypassed whatever danger lurked in the foliage. Then her father held back a large leaf and stood aside, letting Aurelia and then Jonathon step through,
There was a small, well, beach, for want of a better word; and Nicholas, Lukas, Elza, and two others were already there, waiting. Aurelia's father nodded at Lukas, who again made the low whistling sound, and then there was another strange sound.
Aurelia's eyes looked out in the half light. This, she realised, was the swamp. A thin mist hovered over the surface, and as she watched, two shapes moved in, the source of the strange sound. Paddles dipped into the murky surface of something that looked like dark water but moved more slowly and was thicker.
“It's the only way to travel around here,” Aurelia's father said to Jonathon.
The two boats pulled up onto the bank. Aurelia's quick eyes noticed that the bottoms of the bows glistened. There must be something slick and shiny under there to help the boats slide onto the ground, she thought. Nicholas, tied to a stretcher, was loaded in first. Elza went with him, Aurelia assumed to keep an eye on his state. Jonathon, her father, Lukas, and Aurelia climbed into the second boat.
“Don't touch the water,” her father warned them all.
She knew that the swamp water, all the water, around City 02 was polluted enough that small children occasionally died if they accidentally fell in, so she was careful to avoid anything too damp. Once seated in the boat, she looked around for the two strange men who had helped carry Nicholas's stretcher, but she saw nothing. They had melted back into the jungle.
“It's only a few minutes,” Aurelia's father whispered. “No talking. Words carry over the water. Just sit tight until we arrive.”
It’s cold, she thought, as the boat began moving. The way the air moved over the water, and the damp, clinging mist—both combined to make her shiver a little. The boat paddles, she noticed, were automatic. They would have fascinated Nicholas, had he been awake to see them. She hoped he was still unconscious, though. He'd feel less pain that way.
The swamp smelled. Badly. It was a little like the jungle but more rotten, like the water had taken over the foliage and was slowly fermenting it down into soup. Aurelia wrinkled her nose at the smell. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep warm. The boat wasn't large, but the mist around them was thicker than she'd anticipated. She couldn't see the othe
r boat, though she could hear the lapping of water signifying that it was near. In fact, she could only see a dark outline where her father and Jonathon were sitting. Lukas was closer to her, and she could just make out his features if she looked carefully.
This is a lonely place, she thought. There was a cough, maybe from the other boat, and it echoed over the swamp. She wouldn't like to be out here alone. Actually, she wouldn't like to be out here at all if she didn't have to be. The boat moved purposefully. Navigation out here must be tough. With all that fog and constantly changing landmarks, she could see why an automated boat was a good idea. It was sort of like a low-tech transport pod in a way.
She pulled her arms tighter around herself. Gods, I wish this was over now. Even as she thought that, the boat began to slow down. Lukas startled her by whistling a complex pattern, which was returned immediately by someone else. The vessel was hardly moving at all now, a fluttering of the paddles making it stable, though Aurelia couldn't see yet where they were. Then there was a soft thud, and she realised that something had fallen into the boat. Lukas carefully moved to pick up what turned out to be the knotted end of a thin rope. He pulled, and the rope became thicker until eventually it became a ladder. He pushed the end of the rope through a hook in the middle of the boat and gestured to Aurelia.
“Ladies first,” he said, and she heard rather than saw his grin.
She got up and gasped as the boat swayed under her feet, but Lukas caught her elbow. Gripping a rung of the ladder with her hands, she wondered if it would hold her. It seemed flimsy, but she wanted out of the boat now. She stretched her arms up as far as they would go, put one foot on, then the second. Hmm. The ladder was sturdier than she'd expected.
“Go fast,” Lukas hissed after her. “There's less chance of the ladder turning around if you go fast.”
Heeding his advice, she scrambled up as fast as she could, the rope scratching her hands. After ten or so rungs, she felt wood above her, then hands reached down and pulled her up onto a small dock.
“Welcome to City 02,” said a voice.
“Thanks,” she said, uncertainly. She had no idea who this man was.
He looked average enough, wearing a tech Worker uniform. Dark, bearded. Nice smile. She smiled back, and he returned his attention to the ladder where someone else was climbing up. They were above the mist now, and Aurelia could see the dock quite clearly. It was a dark wooden construction, surrounded by foliage similar to that they had just left. A contraption on the far side was being operated by two other men, who seemed to be winching something up. Of course. It must be Nicholas; he couldn't climb the ladder. She hurried over to see, the wet wood squeaking under her feet.
As she reached the winch, the stretcher appeared over the edge of the dock, and she had a clear view of a very pale Nicholas. His eyes were open now. Elza called from below, and a ladder was dropped to her. Aurelia bent over the stretcher.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Painful,” he said, through gritted teeth.
“Not long now and we should be able to get you some decent painkillers,” she told him. “Just hang on a few minutes more.”
His eyes were already fluttering shut again as Elza climbed up, accepting a hand from one of the two winch operators.
“Stats look fine,” she said to Aurelia. “He's not too warm, so no fever. I think he's going to be alright.”
“Let's hope so,” Aurelia said. She didn't regret what she'd done, knowing that it was the only choice, but she would hold herself to blame if anything happened because of her actions.
“Let's go!” called Jonathon.
She turned and saw that the men were already leaving the dock. A small dirt path led off to the right, and they followed it around a curve until it led out into a large clearing. There, Aurelia saw, were buildings. They were strangely familiar to her. The houses were rounded, twisting in a curve as she was used to; but rather than towering towards the sky, they ended after just a few floors, metal supports sticking up into the air and half-finished brickwork threatening to topple at any second.
The whole place had a look of being not quite done, and yet there were people here. People walking flat streets, talking, lights, and the smell of cooking. All the lights seemed to be flickering in uneven patterns, giving the—what? Village, maybe? Giving the village an air of being fantastical, dreamlike. It was like the place wasn't really solid and could disappear any second.
“We got lucky,” Aurelia's father said, coming up behind her with Jonathon. “The engineering Workers screwed up. They started to develop the island before realising that the ground was too unstable to support high rises. It was easier to leave the floors that had been built and move to another island than it was to reclaim the land that was here.”
So it was a building site. “And the lights?” Aurelia asked, hypnotised by the constantly changing patterns around her.
“Generators,” explained her father. “Not worth putting in anything more permanent than that, since we don't know how long we'll stay around here. It's a good place, though. The nearby islands are all too unstable for building right now, and development is being kept to the other side of the City.”
“We need to get everyone inside,” Jonathon said.
The stretcher bearing Nicholas arrived last, and Aurelia's father began giving directions. She noticed that he had a definite air of authority here, and she wondered why that would be, but didn't ask questions yet. There would be time for that later.
“Where's your medical bay?” Elza asked.
A building was pointed out to her, and she nodded to the two stretcher bearers.
“Wait for me,” Aurelia said.
She needed to see this through, needed to know if she'd done more damage than good. She hurried after the stretcher and Elza.
The building looked like nearly any other clinic she'd been in. The inside was white. The lights were not quite as bright as she would have expected, but the examination rooms were clean, and the med Worker, when he arrived, was dressed in uniform. He raised an eyebrow at Elza and Aurelia.
“We're med too,” Elza said, though neither of them were wearing med uniforms.
He said nothing and quickly began to examine Nicholas, whose eyes were still closed. There was apparently a full set of medical supplies here, as the med Worker had all the tools that Aurelia would have expected. After a full exam, he turned to Elza.
“I think you'd better tell me what went on here.”
The woman explained as quickly as possible what had happened, and the med Worker's eyes grew ever larger in astonishment. He shook his head in wonder.
“All I can say is that it worked,” he said finally. “There's no sign of any infection. I'm going to give him more anti-infect shots and some pain meds, but he seems to be thriving. He'll be out of it for the rest of the night, I should think. I'll get someone from engineering in to look at him tomorrow to talk about prosthetics.”
“Will that be possible?” Aurelia asked. She'd been afraid that such a straight cut would mean the chances of attaching a prosthetic to the existing nerves would be slim.
The med Worker nodded. “I think so. As long as we do it soon. He might need to lose another centimetre or so off the wrist to get attachment points, but that won't be a problem.”
Elza grinned at Aurelia. “Nice work, kiddo,” she said.
Aurelia smiled back, suddenly weary. Her legs felt heavy, she felt dirty, and all she wanted to do was to fall into bed.
“Come on, I think we should track down Jonathon and your father,” Elza said, noting the expression on Aurelia's face.
“Why...” she began, but then stopped. She didn't think Elza would answer the question.
“Why is your father here?” grinned Elza. “Probably best if he explains that himself, don't you think?”
They walked out of the clinic into a darkening evening. There were around ten buildings here, maybe four or five habitable floors on each. Aurelia quickly
calculated and figured that if the living pods were all filled, there were a fair few people in the village. What were they doing? Was this a settlement? She didn't think so—she'd expected a settlement to be wilder, rougher somehow. This seemed more like a mini City.
Elza stopped a tech Worker. “We're looking for Mr. Cole and Mr. Hansen,” she said.
“You'll find them right over there,” he said, pointing to a nearby building. “Try the ground floor.”
They followed his directions, and Aurelia noticed that the front door of the building had no lock. They weren't required to enter ID numbers either. In fact, there was nothing to keep anyone out of the building at all. This place just got weirder and weirder. They could hear voices as they walked down the long corridor. Then Aurelia could smell food. Her mouth began watering, and she realised that she was starving.
“Do you think you can wait for your answers until you've eaten?” Elza teased, looking back at her.
Aurelia didn't answer, just walked a little faster until they reached a grey door. She was about to knock when Elza reached out and opened the door instead.
Stepping inside, they found a large, circular room, half filled with a large, circular table surrounded by chairs. A fire burned in a grate, painting orange designs on the white walls. And food waited on the table, an array of dishes including many things that Aurelia had never seen before. She realised that the mouth-watering smell came from something that looked an awful lot like real meat, which was sizzling in a metal pan in the centre of the table. Real meat on Earth, though? That didn't seem right.
“Perhaps the time has come for everyone to know who everyone is?” Jonathon said, standing up from his seat as they entered.
Aurelia looked around the table. As far as she was aware, she knew everyone sitting there, but she nodded anyway.
“Take a seat,” Jonathon said.