by S. K. Holder
‘Outcast perhaps,’ Skelos mumbled, ‘but I will never be an outsider. ‘Granted the Unmarked Ones here are not the same as the breed I have come across on Odisiris, still I do not see why they should profit from my expertise.’
‘You work for the Shardner now Skelos, not yourself. Forget about your own needs for the time being. You will be watched, and you will be expected to carry out the tasks assigned to you. We will tell you when to wake and when to sleep. Your food will be given to you. Your days will be busy. If you cooperate, I will help you learn about this new world you are in. If you comply, I will show you a little of it.’
Skelos knew the Peltarck was right and that he spoke the truth. He supposed he could pretend to comply while focusing on a more sophisticated escape plan. There had to be ships from Odisiris landing in Narrigh all the time. He would steal one.
CHAPTER 13
The following day, after another restless night, Skelos clambered over his balcony. He grabbed hold of the branch growing out of the rock face, in which his living quarters were set. The branch couldn’t take his weight. It cracked. He screamed in fear. A servant and two guards came to rescue him. They helped him back onto the patio. He lashed out at them. They took the full brunt of his frustration and his disgust. They were all Unmarked. And they had touched him. Contaminated him.
He sat in his bath and scrubbed his flesh until it was raw. Logic told him he was acting like a fool, but his Citizen Status told him that all Unmarked Ones were disgusting, germ carrying beings, with no communication skills or etiquette. Skelos could see with this own eyes that these Unmarked Ones were different. They were polite. Firm but polite. They had no problems communicating with him, and they were clean. He staggered from the bath and wrapped his – now − very blue skin in a towel. He stepped out of the bath shaking his head. Why would they send him here? He didn’t understand it. He thought about how he could make a less rash escape. If there was some way in which he might negotiate his way off of this nightmare-of-a-planet?
He could use Amelia as an excuse, though he didn’t see how as she was not with him. He began to wonder whether she was in Narrigh. She could still be on Odisiris, facing a drilling under Kerss’s stern gaze with the Axiom drug running through what was left of her veins.
That night he slept soundly given the day’s traumas, and the next day he woke fresh and more rational-minded. One of the servants had laid out a black lab coat for him. He slipped it on.
He was sitting on the bed, idly flicking through the Bible when Yerryn and four guards strode in. The guards wore leather tunics, tough cotton breeches and brown boots.
‘Please come with me,’ said Yerryn.
Skelos followed them down the winding staircase lit by sconces. He was not looking forward to his next destination but was glad to be finally free of his room, if only for a brief time.
The stairs took them outside to patch of flattened grass that looked on to a red clay path shrouded by tall grass and trees. A sturdy four-legged beast stood tethered to a box cart. It had a coarse white mane and grey speckled coat.
A lean man with pointed ears and a jaw set like a trap held the leather reins that were strapped to the mighty animal. He wore a shabby cloak, a rich embroidered tunic, and oil skin trousers.
‘What is this?’ said Skelos.
‘It’s a horse and cart,’ said Yerryn. ‘And this is Ryelm.’ He gestured to the man with the pointed ears. ‘He will take us into the heart of Baruch. The Kingdom.’’
Ryelm didn’t offer any greeting. He tugged on the reins of the horse, guiding it in a full circle so that the rear of cart faced them.
‘I don’t understand this horse and cart,’ said Skelos. The animal seemed docile, and the cart as fragile as glass.
‘You sit in the cart,’ said the guard, tapping the side of the wooden structure, and the horse will pull you. We’ll be in the kingdom by nightfall.’
Skelos laughed. This had to be a cruel joke. He looked up at the sky. Small-winged birds circled. ‘Can we not take an airship?’
‘There are no airships here,’ said Yerryn. ‘Odisirian vessels do not belong in Narrigh.’
Skelos attempted to climb into the cart without jumping, a feat he would have found impossible if one of the guards hadn’t taken the liberty of shoving him in the rump.
Yerryn and three guards joined him.
Ryelm climbed into the front of the cart. He snapped the reins and the horse broke into a trot. The cart trundled and creaked along.
Skelos gripped the sides, complaining inwardly that he could have walked faster.
CHAPTER 14
Skelos had been enamored by the Kingdom when he had viewed it from his balcony. The reality was very different.
Baruch was dusty and busy.
It teemed with many more horses and carts, and other horse-like creatures. Skelos saw a whole plethora of species that he had never laid eyes upon. Repugnant smells wafted up his nose, making it hard for him to breathe, to think. He smelled scented oils, sweat, overripe fruit, and rancid meat. He placed his hand over his nose and mouth, leaving just enough space between his fingers to breathe.
Yerryn didn’t seemed bothered by the smells or the hectic atmosphere. Few of the populace greeted the Peltarck with words or a smile.
Yerryn and Skelos walked ahead of Ryelm. From what Skelos could tell the Peltarck did not seem care for Ryelm’s company. Yerryn ignored the man’s attempt at trivial conversation regarding their walking route. After which, Ryelm did not speak. Skelos found Ryelm annoyingly light-footed, and he smelled of a heavy flowery scent that made his eyes water. The Peltarck’s company he could at least tolerate, the smells he could not.
One guard walked behind them and two set the pace in front. One of the guards was a Citizen: Third Class. Skelos saw the orange mark on his right hand before he pulled on a pair of dark leather gloves. The Citizen did not acknowledge him at all.
Skelos wasn’t foolish enough to try to escape while out in the city, not without learning and assessing the state of the land itself. The buildings were made of stone. Some were white and some were decorated with gold. Skelos didn’t know if it was real or fake gold. All he knew was, unlike Odisirian constructions, the buildings were hot and had little or no ventilation.
The difference between the poor and the rich was clearly marked. The kingdom bustled with many street urchins dressed in threadbare clothes while the wealthy strutted about in lavishly coloured robes. In Odisiris it was not so. Anyone living on Odisiris had wealth, some more than others. Naturally, the subhuman Outsiders who dwelled in the Red Caves were eliminated from any economic equation.
‘They do not bow here?’ Skelos whispered in the Peltarck’s ear.
‘There was a king and queen who ruled here once. The people bowed to them. They died many years ago.’
Skelos found this intriguing. Most of the known planets in the Andromeda galaxy had presidents, commanders, and ruling chancellors as their leaders; a few had emperors, but none a king and queen.
‘Who commands you all?’ asked Skelos.
‘I don’t understand the question,’ said Yerryn.
‘Who is the main ruler? Who makes all the real decisions?’
‘We are a democracy. Decisions rest on all our shoulders. Although, if you were to ask me, I would say that Ilvis is the more dominate Shardner member among us, and the oldest. He is most respected.’
‘And what of outside the Kingdom of Baruch?’
Yerryn stopped walking and turned to him. ‘You do understand that you cannot travel outside the Kingdom?’
Skelos did not think his question unreasonable. He did not see why his exile should stretch no further than the Kingdom of Baruch. He had the right to see the rest of it as far as he was concerned. It was the surest way to plan his fail-safe escape plan. ‘And why not?’
‘It is forbidden for races who are not of this world to leave the Kingdom. I brought you out here to show you some courtesy before your real undertakin
g begins and to teach you a little about Narrigh’s culture.’
Skelos wasn’t sure that he cared to learn about Narrigh’s culture − it being very different than his own.
The Peltarck continued walking. ‘We will brief you on the ways of Narrigh culture, and we have books that may enlighten you, or not.’
They came to a building of solid stone. Skelos climbed down from the cart, wrestling a guard who attempted to help him. He followed Yerryn into a lavishly furnished hall; too lavish for Skelos’s liking, too busy and too colourful. The walls were a parade of vertical green, purple, gold, and black stripes. The gilded framed chairs were upholstered in a garish yellow and blue floral fabric. The glossy wood furniture stood on slender carved legs, and the paintings on the wall were so full of colour they were barely distinguishable amidst the eye-popping wallpaper. A huge table ran down the length of the room. Covered in a green velvet cloth with a tasselled trim, it was laden with several bowls of oversized fruit. The fruit looked as if it was coated with wax − or made from it, Skelos surmised. The mosaic crammed floor made his head swim.
Skelos saw one face he recognized, and it was not Osaphar. It was the woman who had first greeted him in Narrigh, the Unmarked One: Halera Proth.
There were twelve chairs at the table, only three of them empty. Halera invited Skelos to sit in one. She sat at the head of table dressed with an animal fur wrapped around her neck.
Skelos didn’t move. Of all the Unmarked Ones he had met so far, she repulsed him the most with her ragged hair, lined clothes, and twisted sickly smile.
The other eight at the table stared at him with measured gazes.
Yerryn sat down.
Skelos fiddled with the buttons on his black coat. He was certain that none of the twelve council members were Marked Ones. He was the odd one out. The intruder. The alien. No one rose from their chair or greeted him with a warm smile. He stared at a bowl of wax fruit. They had planted him on a planet rife with Unmarked Ones. Who knew how many more of them there were out there?
‘I know this must be daunting for you, Mr Dorm,’ said a large man with a face full of freckles and gold rings upon his fingers. ‘I can imagine things are a little different here than on your home planet.’
Does he not know how to pronounce the word doctor?
‘You will work alone. Guarded of course,’ said Yerryn, helping himself to a bunch of purple grapes. ‘You will work and sleep in one of our underground chambers. At the weekends you can return to your quarters if you wish, or you can stay here.’
Skelos raised his chin, his eyes skimmed the nine now seated at the table: mature men and woman: dark, pale, large, small. All hostile. ‘This is an outrage. I was told nothing about this? Where is Osaphar? I didn’t come here to work for the likes of you.’
As far as he knew, expatriates didn’t work. They were sent away to live a luxurious lifestyle elsewhere, not to slave.
‘Sit down Skelos,’ said the fat man, flapping his hand impatiently. ‘We understand you are a scientist. You love your work. Do you really imagine a life of exile without conducting your experiments? We can give that to you.’ He flashed his teeth. ‘Sit. Rest your legs.’
Skelos badly wanted to sit, to take the weight off his legs after the tour, which was basically a long painful walk on the road to boredom. But to sit with them? He would be lowering himself and expressing his acceptance of this farce. He could not do it. Better to stand tall and retain his honour. He fixed a sneer upon his face. ‘Where’s my niece? I want to see her.’
‘We have some bad news regarding that.’
She’s dead. Skelos reached for the back of the chair to steady himself. Brain dead probably from the journey through the rift. ‘Bad news?’ Now I truly am alone.
‘Yes,’ said Halera. ‘She has run away. Don’t worry, we’ll find her. She won’t have gone far.’
With a jolt of relief Skelos let go of the chair. He hoped for both their sakes she was running in his direction. He was disconcerted that she had managed a successful escape when he had failed. ‘I’ve seen the state of this kingdom. How could you have let her out of your sight? And you calmly sit here and talk to me about experiments.’
‘You Citizens are quicker on your feet than us,’ said a woman drenched in a royal blue robe and a gemstone clustered necklace.
‘And she’s small,’ said a man with feathered eyebrows and loose skin around his jowls.
Both valid points. But she has my Shard. ‘All the more reason to watch her more closely, I would have thought.’
‘We’re doing everything we can to find her,’ said the fat man, plunging his hand into a bowl of nuts and dried fruit. ‘She won’t have made it out of Baruch. We’ll find her before the end of the day. I’m sure.’ He tossed a handful of nuts into his mouth and once he had chewed and swallowed sufficiently, he spoke again. ‘There are two important things that you must know about this world. ‘Firstly, there is no Citizen law here. Citizens live in secret. Anyone under the Shardner’s service knows about Odisiris and the true nature of Citizens – the rest of the Narrigh population – to our knowledge − do not. The common folk of Narrigh will not understand or appreciate your kind. Therefore, you are forbidden from associating with non-Shardner members.’
Skelos feigned surprise by raising his eyebrows, having already deduced that his kind were not as welcome as other races. ‘Do you intend to put me in chains and shackle me to a wall.’
His comment went ignored. The fat man rested his elbows on the table and cupped his chin with both hands. ‘And secondly, it is a world without technology.’
A world without technology? What did that even mean? Skelos couldn’t even begin to imagine a world without technology or how a society could function without a necessity as essential to life as water. Odisiris had never known an era without it. ‘How am I to conduct experiments? Technology forms the fundamental basis for my experiments. It forms the fundamental basis of me.’
‘I’m sure you can adapt.’
‘I don’t want to adapt,’ he snapped. He shifted from one leg to another. ‘I want off this planet immediately. They must be some mistake. I don’t−’
A mistake or was this intentional? Osaphar had learned his secret and perhaps he was not alone. Without technology he was powerless.
CHAPTER 15
Skelos saw two moons in the sky that night, one to the east and one to the west. The western moon was pearly white and the one to the east was a crescent the colour of an oyster.
Two guards escorted him from the Royal Halls and back into the city.
He heard the sound of music, the cackling of men and women, and the thumping of horses’ hooves. The odours of the day had started to fade and a new scent had taken their place: alcohol, smoke, scented candles, and musty sweat.
Skelos hated all of it. When a boy in rags came up to him with his hands outstretched, he wrapped his hand in his sleeve and slapped the child so hard, he knocked the boy to the ground. The child made some cursory comment before scarpering away.
He saw drunk men and women stumbling out of buildings with glass windows. He saw people sitting at tables laden with plates of food, pitchers, and mugs. He spotted people sitting on flower-adorned balconies chatting and laughing.
He couldn’t see what they had to laugh about in this calamity of a city.
The guards took him through a trussed gateway and down a sloping path which took them through a door. Beyond the door was a set of stairs, another door and more stairs.
And so it went on.
Skelos had no idea how many doors they went through or stairs they walked down.
The guards did not respond to any of his questions as to where they might be going, and after a while, he felt as if he were in a dream and his legs were the only part of him still awake. Sconces on the wall lit their way. There flames burning brightly. The members of the Shardner council had not offered him a drink or food, nor did they give him their names. He could not get over how unimporta
nt he was to them or their complacency over the fact that Amelia was missing.
The slopes became steeper. Skelos had to stop himself from skidding down one when he caught sight of a green giant. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or alien, although everything was alien here. It had a broad physique. A rusty chain hung from its ankle, and it had a corroded choker around its neck. It wore a pair of tattered trousers. Its face looked as if it had been folded in two. Its lips, eyes, and nose were squashed together, and its teeth were shaped like fangs.
The beast didn’t acknowledge them, and the guards showed no interest in it at all. Skelos struggled to hide his fear. He didn’t want to appear weak in front of Unmarked Ones. He was the superior race. He didn’t want them to think less of him in any aspect, not that he should have cared what they thought.
‘What’s the purpose of that thing?’ he asked.
A young guard called Noec, with a domed forehead and wide-set eyes, gave Skelos a push which sent him careering down the slope. ‘To make sure you don’t try to escape.’
He used his elbow to stop himself from smashing into the door.
The two guards ran down the slope to meet him and another guard who stood by the door with a key in his hand.
Skelos watched the guard slot the key into the lock and turn it. The door snapped open. The guard returned the key to his pocket and stared at Skelos, an amused glint in his eye.
Once through the door, the guards took Skelos down a set of steps and along a network of skewed rooms and corridors with black and copper walls. In one room they passed, Skelos saw three guards poring over a crate set on a three-legged table fixed with metal studs. One held his painting aloft while his other hand sifted blindly through the crate in search of more treasures. Another was dismantling the microscope that he had acquired from Dr Oliver Best.