by Wesley Chu
“Did your family make it out?” Ewa asked.
“They did. All except my father, who, to his dying day, was working hard to keep the colony functioning, even as the mobs tore into his module and rerouted the life support systems from his building.” Kuo pointed at the huddled crowd. “I was young, but I remember. In the end, the mobs, those people of little value who did not contribute to humanity, they looked a lot like them.” She turned to Ewa. “Just remember, Securitate. It does not take much dead weight to sink an entire ship. If we do not cut them away quickly, they will drag us all down.” Kuo began to walk out of the room.
“I’m sorry about your father,” Ewa called after her.
Kuo did not bother to look back. “Don’t be. He was a foolish man with foolish ideas.”
TWENTY-THREE
NEW HOME
The Elfreth were finally able to do the one thing that had been previously impossible: unpack. There was something therapeutic about being able to take their belongings out from storage and set them out. For the first time in months, they were no longer transients. The cooks were able to set up a kitchen. The teachers were able to choose a room and schedule school again. Even the farm animals were given an entire floor so they could graze freely on the wild vegetation that grew on the higher levels. Best of all, the Elfreth had a home again. Elise, Franwil, and the rest of the elders suddenly had to become city planners and unpack the entire tribe across the three floors the Flatirons had allocated them.
One of the first things they had to concern themselves with was planting new crops. The farmers were given nine floors on the upper levels, that received enough sun during the day to farm. Replenishing their blood corn, glow shrooms, and crippling weeds stores would be important to the tribe’s continuing survival. Fortunately, almost all of the crops being planted were fast-growing, some sprouting and ready to harvest in as little as a week.
The Flatirons must have decided to trust them, because the morning after Elise and Crowe came to an agreement, all their restrictions disappeared. She no longer felt like they were living in a prison. Instead, they were given the run of the entire building and the freedom to mingle with the Flatirons, though both sides still mostly stayed with their own. The two tribes would need more time to get better acquainted.
By the end of the first week, as Elise walked through the three newly-established floors of living quarters, she could already feel the sense of community returning to the Elfreth. The bulk of the tribe lived on the fifty-seventh floor, dubbed Middle Village. The floor used to be an office, a massive cubicle farm with rows of walled offices on the sides. It took a little planning and more than a bit of mediation between quarreling families angling for the best spaces, but eventually, everyone was allocated a place of their own. They even put up street names so people knew how to navigate the maze of corridors.
The cooks had set up their kitchen on the north side of the fifty-sixth floor, called the Lower Village. The guardians made the south end of that floor their headquarters. The newly-erected blacksmith’s hearth shared the same fire sources as the kitchen on the northeast side, and the entire west side was reserved for food storage.
The Upper Village, on the fifty-eighth floor, was more open. The Elfreth converted a series of small rooms on the northwest end into a school. Shops, vendors, and services quickly filled out the rest of the floor. By the end of the week, a thriving market had sprung up, and Elise could hear the friendly chatter of tribesmen living their lives again.
Elise even had a corner office to call her own. It amused her, because she always thought she’d have to move into an office when she was too old to pilot a mechanoid or handle the physically taxing work of a field biologist. Instead, she had earned it by somehow getting saddled with the head honcho job for a tribe of future earth primitives. Go figure.
The most important thing she had to take care of was the tribe’s responsibility for guarding the northern and eastern barricades. Elise had promised Crowe that the Elfreth would completely take care of all four barricades on those sides. Their tenure in the All Galaxy depended on whether they kept their end of the bargain. She spent the bulk of her time with Eriao working out a barricade rotation, making sure a system was in place to make sure all her guardians knew their roles and had emergency contingency plans.
Elise also scheduled daily meetings with Crowe to make sure the two of them stayed on the same page. At first, she worried that she was annoying him; some of his closest advisers resented the Elfreth and her access to him. The teacher did not seem to mind, though; at least, he always smiled when he saw her.
The attacks, especially on the north side, had become a constant issue. It was strange, because most of the attacks seemed random and came from an assortment of tribes. Sometimes, it was a deliberate and planned organized assault by hard raiders intent on stealing supplies. Other times, it was an unfortunate group who just happened to be trying to move south. Rarely was a tribe foolish enough to attack them more than once. There was little rhyme or reason to why so many different groups were hitting them.
For Elise, it was especially difficult because many of those tribes trying to break through the barricades were just like the Elfreth had been two weeks ago. It seemed unfair to fight and turn them away. It bothered many of her guardians as well as they repelled wave after wave of raiders. There was no way the Flatirons could have held the entire building—all eight barricades—under this constant pressure, considering each barricade was hit at least once a day, the northern ones sometimes three. How did they hold the floor before without the Elfreth to support them? Disturbed, she went to speak with Crowe in his residence.
The teacher was stoking a small fire and speaking to a group of children when she came. He noticed her at the door and smiled. Elise waited until he was done telling his story, listening as he narrated the Flatirons’ history to them in a song. The Flatirons had originated in Niagara and had fled when the Great Lakes overflowed. They wandered the region for a generation, turning into a warring tribe that pillaged as they went. It was a dark time for the world, and even darker for their tribe. It wasn’t until after they entered Mist Isle and took possession of the All Galaxy Tower that they had domesticated and changed from a savage raiding tribe to farmers.
When Crowe was done with the story, he ushered the children out and beamed at Elise. “Another report, Oldest? We had one just a few hours ago. I am starting to think you simply enjoy my company.”
“Always, Teacher.” Elise took a seat opposite Crowe near the fire. “The raids on the building have been nonstop. My guardians say they’ve repelled a dozen this week alone. I’m running four shifts as it is. How were the Flatirons able to manage this?”
Crowe shook his head. “These are troubling times, Oldest. These frequent attacks are a new occurrence, they’ve only increased in the past few weeks. Our building is well-known among these blocks. Attacks were rare before, sometimes less than a few times a season. At one point, I feared my people were becoming too lax. Now I fear there are too few to hold the barricades.”
“How did you know to choose to trust us out of all the other tribes?” she asked.
“Two reasons.” He chuckled. “First, you asked. In the Mist Isle, it is a rare thing for a wandering tribe to wield words before the spear. The world is dangerous. In the many years I have been Teacher, only a few others have asked before attacking. Second, to be truthful, we had little choice. The Elfreth are almost as numerous as the Flatirons, and many of our fights are injured. If you had chosen to attack that night, I doubt we would have held the wall. When I saw the bands on your wrists, I knew you could be a formidable foe. I had no choice but to attempt peace first. I am glad I did. The Flatirons are grateful that you are helping share this burden.”
“We are stronger together,” she agreed.
It was a strange coincidence that these raids were increasing just as the Elfreth had come to the Mist Isle. Elise had a nagging feeling that they were related; she desperat
ely hoped not. Coming here had been her decision. If the Elfreth had somehow led the Co-op here and they were the ones causing this upheaval, then the blame lay directly at her feet. That meant the Elfreth were taking advantage of the Flatirons’ desperation over something they themselves had caused. That did not sit well with her.
“Oldest,” Rima said, barging into the room. “A voom approaches from the south.”
Panic seized her as she stood up. She had desperately hoped for a few months of peace from the Co-op, if not years. More important, was it a routine patrol or an attack? If it was an attack, the Elfreth were in no position to leave. They were as good as dead.
“Gather the guardians,” she said. “How in Gaia did they find us so fast?”
“No, Oldest,” Rima said. “The flyguards have been holed up in a place on the other side of the river outside the fog waiting for signals from the Frankenstein. Early this morning, Bria had run back to report that they made contact.” She smiled. “Oldest Grace and Elder James have returned. They’ve pass through one of the underwater tunnels to the island and are landing on the balcony on the seventy-third floor.”
The next few moments were a blur. All Elise could recall was being exceedingly out of breath as she sprinted up thirty flights of steps and dove into James’s arms.
TWENTY-FOUR
FAMILY UNIT
James’s eyes fluttered open and he looked at the blemished off-white ceiling in Elise’s quarters. This must have been an office in a previous incarnation. There were white square frames running left and right, up and down, making a grid of sorts. Half of the flimsy panels were missing, and the rest disintegrated when touched. The black-and-white contrasts formed patterns and shapes of creatures if you stared at them from different angles. Sort of like clouds. Or dreams.
He felt strangely alone, in a pleasant way, although he wasn’t the only person in bed. He realized it was because he hadn’t dreamed last night, which was often the case when Elise was close by. His hallucinations also tended to stay away whenever she was near, as if somehow she warded him from them. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen any of the hallucinations lately, other than the new one. Where had they gone? Like wild animals, did hallucinations go off someplace quiet to die?
He heard the sound of soft breathing and glanced down to his left. Elise shifted, her arm draped around his chest as she nestled against him. Her head rested on his shoulder, and both their chests seem to expand and contrast synchronously. James brushed a wayward strand of hair from her face and caressed her cheek. The red hair she had had when they first met had long since given way to her natural black.
She loved that red and had vowed to one day find a dye. James would love her just the same if she had no hair, but he kept an eye out for it whenever he bartered for supplies. Hair dye was a rare commodity in the present. Once, he had brought back red paint. She laughed and said she adored him for trying. Those words alone were worth the effort.
James slowly shifted his body upward so the back of his head rested against the wall. They were lying on an old mattress with a dozen pillows on one end. When the Elfreth had learned that people in Elise’s time slept on such soft things, they made a point of bringing her every single fluffy thing they found. Personally, James, who was used to sleeping on hard floors, couldn’t stand sleeping on these things. Elise, however, really liked the pillows, so James made do.
She murmured something and clutched him harder, and then fell back asleep. They had had a late night together yesterday, first catching up as a family with Sasha, then making desperate love on this mattress and holding each other long into the night, watching the strange tentacles of fog that curled in through the windows and cracks.
In the distance, he could hear the guard tapping a nightstick against the floor, letting the rest of the tribe know they were being watched over. It was peaceful, almost too much so. James didn’t trust silence, not after what he’d seen. Still, he wouldn’t leave the bed and wake Elise. Franwil had pulled him aside last night and told him that Elise was barely getting four hours of sleep a night. The pressure of leadership and managing the Elfreth’s move from Boston to New York had been trying. He felt that sharp but familiar sting of guilt for leaving her at such a crucial time.
The banging of the nightstick stopped abruptly. It was somewhere around its thirty-something tap already, meaning it was almost dawn. Something had to be wrong. Maybe they were being attacked, or someone had found an intruder or a wild animal had snuck through the stairwells. It could be any number of things. James tried to crawl out of bed without waking Elise.
To his surprise, Elise grabbed his arms and held him down. “We have guardians, James. They’ll handle it.”
“It could be another tribe trying to steal our supplies or…”
Her grip on his arm tightened and she opened her eyes. “My people have been getting by while you were away. They’ll get by now that you’re back. We don’t need you here to save us. I, however, need you to stay here and hold me.”
And that was that. James noted that she had called the Elfreth her people. She had finally accepted her role as their leader, something that was very much in doubt when he had left her. A little smile appeared on his face as he recalled her first days in the present. That Elise and the one lying now in his arms were two completely different people. It saddened him that she had lost a little of her innocence and exuberance, but she was also so much more now.
For the next hour, he cheerfully surrendered himself to the Oldest. The two drifted in and out of sleep together, holding each other until the last taps of the nightstick ended. They were the most peaceful moments James had had in months.
The dim light that managed to pierce the morning haze was just shining through the window when Sasha poked her head in the doorway, reminding him that he had additional responsibilities. She wandered to the bed and pulled on the blanket. “Why are you two still in bed? Oldest Franwil says that those who rise after the sun are doomed to bathe in darkness.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” he grumbled, guilted into getting up. He was sort of a parent now, and wanted to set a good example. He gave Elise a peck on the mouth and slipped out from under the covers.
“It means you stink.” Elise yawned and opened her eyes. Her gaze moved to Sasha and then back to him. “It’s warm under the blanket. The Oldest here is making an executive decision to just roll with taking a bath in the dark.” She turned over and went back to sleep.
James stood up and stretched, feeling his weary joints creak and pop. He felt a sharp pain just to the right of his heart. He moved his fingers along his chest and pressed on it, feeling his nerves cry out. He had first felt this pain shortly after he retrieved Titus. It had started with an ache at the base of his neck, but had since manifested all over his body, small sharp stabs or pain that came and went randomly. He took a few deep breaths until the pain passed.
“Well, are you coming?” Sasha said. “The day is wasting away.”
James threw on his clothes and walked with Sasha from their corner room on the fifty-seventh floor down to the dining floor. He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. “You staying out of trouble while I was gone?” he asked good-naturedly. “Kept up with your studies?”
She nodded vigorously. “I kept my promise. I can count almost has high as Rima now. Did you keep yours?”
He hesitated. She already knew him far too well. He knelt down in front of her and held her hand. “I’m not going to be perfect, but your brother is trying very hard.”
She gave him a flat look, her mouth puckering to the left. James took on a properly chastised look as his ten-year-old sister judged him for his crimes. Finally, she nodded. “I forgive you this time, James.”
“Thank you, Sasha.”
“But I won’t always, so don’t push it.”
“You’re learning all the wrong lessons from Franwil,” he muttered as the two continued downstairs. A large number of people
from both tribes were already in the dining area when they joined the breakfast queue. The Flatirons had their own dining hall, but more and more of them were coming here for meals. It wasn’t surprising, really; the Elfreth had much better cooks.
He had brought up the fact that the Flatirons were using up their supplies, but Elise didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she was going out of her way to offer up the Elfreth’s resources to the other tribe. It seemed her plan to win hearts and minds was working, though it was a costly strategy. There were so many mouths to feed.
James and Sasha got in line with the rest of the tribe. When Mowcka, one of the Elfreth serving the meals, beckoned for him and Sasha to cut to the front, he shook his head. As an elder, he technically had the right to skip to the front, but he had learned early in chronman days how using privilege isolated a person from the common people. He had spent so much effort on getting the Elfreth to accept him because it was so important to Elise. The last thing he wanted to do now was place himself apart from the others. He already had enough of that in his life.
The two of them sat down and James listened as Sasha carried on about the day she was going to have. She seemed excited about everything, though considering the life they had lived on Mnemosyne Station and then on the run from the Co-op, he wasn’t surprised. As difficult as living in the wastelands with the Elfreth was, it was a peaceful haven compared to the hell the two of them had endured after their mother died.