Year of the Orphan

by Daniel Findlay

  Will ya reckon?

  I will.

  Blud on it then.

  24

  A score of years. Musta been near enough but that was wun thing he never thought too much about countin. Maybe not twenny, coulda been ten. Time were the only thing he dint keep proper track of. Dint make no fucken difference anyway. He’d had his chance with the Orphan. Yeah he’d told the Block as much and hadnt that little piss stain come up. Not so far as Karra hisself but enough to make trouble if he wanted to. It werent good enough. He was gunna take care of the Orphan and then it was the Blocks turn, be damned to his rep. Karra sat high up, wun of the few dwellins with more than wun level built over the tarmac cross. Usedta be more on top of it sum fellas said. Dint matter, he were high enough. He’d made the council scrounge him up a table with drawers that worked an a flat alum top. Made sure they knew he was boss. Turned it into a room that looked a bit like what the boss used to have and the walls was crowded with books what he couldnt read but he knew how ya made a fella afraid just with signs. This were power. This was keepin things that dint have no real purpose. People scared of ya an what ya might know was no bad thing. This was what the System had been missin all them long years, sumwun to say what was up and what was down. Now he were head of the council. Yeah plenny had tried to make a mark but werent nowun so smart as Karra, nor as ready to make a mess. No man inside as ready to spill blud an weigh it proper after. He’d cleaned up after others his whole life, he werent afraid of mess. Mess werent nuthin that couldnt be cleared up with sum effort and sum workin the arms. Countin werent no trouble for him neither, not like it were for sum of the fucken dregs hangin around. He got strong when he hadta. All them peeps needed was water an food an a little bit of the other an they lay down. Well he could sort that out couldnt he. Knew how it worked. Couldnt speak in the circle but made it so he never needed to. Karra banged his cup on the alum desktop and wun of his blokes came over with sum clear wine and gave him another cup. He dint have the clear wine much, made yer brain soft, just look at the old drunks on the drag, but tonight, after steppin to the Block like that he fancied he needed hisself a drink. All them things that nowun knew. Carryin the weight of secrets all them years. Only him and the fucken Orphan and maybe Block knew about them dark times and soon enough it would only be him and itd all be safe. Whatd he been thinkin all these years, that they was just gunna forget? He’d always been too soft on the Orphan. Look where that had got the Old Man. Werent nuthin but dust and ashes by now he guessed. Gone back to the earth. Karra touched his right hand to the ugly mesh of scars on the back of his left. Took a long time to learn to use that hand again after the boss had him lashed. Took a long time afore he werent stumblin and stutterin when he tried to speak the hands. Look where they both was now though. Wun in the ground and wun sittin on top of this shitheap. He banged his cup on the table again. More clear wine, it was all that was gunna settle him tonight.

  25

  Thank dust for the brighteyes. Thank dust for it all. She crouched at the back of the room with the map stuffed into her waistband an her palms sinkin into the soft grey dust on the floor. She could smell the Ghost and taste the stink of it. Been underground its whole longshort life she reckoned. She couldnt smell no hint of sun that ever touched it, it was all rotten and dank like the rags of the old men that just pissed where they lay. She couldnt see it from where she was but the eyes and nose and ears were blendin for her an it were like she could see the picture in her head. It had her scent she knew, she probly dint smell so good herself and she needed to move around it an get close to that door. Hadta get that map out inta the sun. Maralinga. It were like she were a yungen again. She hadnt ever thought to see that word again. Been lookin a long time but never dreamed nuthin was gunna come of it. Werent gunna do nowun no good though if she ended up gutted and fed on down in this hole. She could feel the curiosity comin off the Ghost but she dint dare raise her head above the countertop she hid behind. No tellin what itd do. She edged along, slidin her feet silent through the dust and all a sudden she dint know where it was. She stopped dead still, stopped her breath and heart and got nuthin. Slow, she turned her head up over her shoulder and came nose to nose with a pale face and big black eyes that seemed to cover half its head. She couldnt help herself and screamed, shuvvin herself back away from it and knockin over a table. The thing leaped back, makin a shriek of its own and clutchin the side of its head. She caught a glimpse of sharp teeth in a kinda grin of pain and she was up, rollin to her feet and dodgin between tables and chairs, knockin cups akimbo as she sprinted. It were like her brighteyes was flickin on and off with the beat of her heart and she could hear it behind her skitterin on the floor with its nails. She turned as she hit the doorway, draggin it closed after her and feelin the weight of the Ghost hit just as it shut. It gave another wun of them shrieks that she was sure was callin evry dustforsaken thing that lived under the earth to come and open her up. The bar on the outside of the door started to pull down and she wedged her arm into the gap, jammin it closed against the pressure, sure her arm was gunna break. The weight released as the thing flung itself wild against the door again and she wondered just how long it had been sittin down here rustin and just how long it was gunna hold. She knew she dint have much time and she could feel the map scrunchin an if it hadnt been coated with sum kinda plastic she knew it woulda been in a million pieces. She felt the Ghost back away from the door and start pacin the room and she grabbed the bit of pipe that was jagged stickin out from the wall runnin down the door frame. It was thin and greenish and looked soft as sand but it might give her a few seconds, specially if the thing in there still thought it was trapped. It had gone real quiet. She bent the bit of pipe over and wedged it into the bar holdin the door closed next to her arm that was throbbin with pain. Deep breath, nuthin for it. She let go the door and started sprintin back up the staircase, hands checkin all the time her precious cargo was still with her.

  Up and round she went, vision flickin in and out and all her senses lookin behind and upwards, all around. Waitin to turn a corner and run into a pack of em, wunderin if this was her end, just when she was gettin started too. Before she even hadda chance to find out what the map meant, before she hadda chance to see Block again. She burst outta the stairwell at the top of the main tunnel and started poundin dust, dogleg followed corner until she were facin what she thought was close to the way out. Sumhow she was holdin sumthin an she saw her hand was clenchin the map fit to crush it and as she crossed a wide open space she saw a familiar lookin hole leadin into a big space filled with them massive old monsters from the old days, giant hulks what musta rolled on their four big wheels under sum other power than wind but what she dint know. Ferfucksake. She stopped and breathed hard before hookin left into the great room with the wheeled beasts, slowin to a walk. Her blud was poundin in her ears and evrythin was shakin but she couldnt hear nuthin comin after her right that second and that were a real good thing. She dint know how much further she coulda run or how good she could fight with a blade in wun hand and the precious paper in the other. She kneeled in the dark, drawin her bayonet and swingin the ruck she carried round to the front, carefully rollin the map up as best she could with wun hand and stuffin it inside. She slung the ruck over on her back and walked into the dark, her brighteyes showin the way clear. She walked past monster after monster, their giant shapes towerin over her in the dark, the smell of cold metal comin off em in blue grey waves she could see in the air. Theyd been painted yellow back in the old times, she could see flecks of it on em, but theyd slowly shed that skin like snakes and now they was their true colour, waitin for sum magic to wake em so they could feed again. She knew she were in the right place now. Between two of em she spied a tarp that covered a shape made of angles and she walked between the sleepin creatures an pulled it aside. The Wide Open Road looked back at her, a loose collection of spars an threads, sittin on three wheels, name scratched on the frame, sail furled up tight. She stowed the tarp and picke
d up the anchor rope and wrapped it round her chest. She tied a loose knot and then leaned forwards an unclipped the brake. She turned back towards the main tunnel and started walking, towin the sand yacht behind her, its wheels makin no sound.

  26

  Before

  The lash come down hard but she werent gunna cry. She could hear Karra pacin behind her but her hands was tied down. She’d had three, was gettin two more she knew about and maybe more. His hand grabbed a hank of her hair and pulled her face up so she could see his hand.

  Too clever girl. You gettin too clever. Ya been here a long time now and me the fool takin ya in, keepin ya fed and alive. What a fool.

  He dropped her head and walked behind her and she heard the whistle as he brought the catonine down on her. It were just the little wun, thanks for small mercies, but the ends was bound in knots just like the biggun and she could feel the blud run outta the split skin and wrap its warm finger round her ribcage before spatterin in the dust. She grit her teeth, caught her breath. Number four.

  The hand in her hair again, jerkin her chin up savage.

  You know what I done for you? What I done for him? For years I kept them fellas off him, and me and you. I been tellin evrywun you wasnt nuthin but a cur, that the boss just kept you round like a dog. You kiddin yerself, if they knew how much he was favourin sum trash from the flats, sum dirty Ghost Orphan what shoulda died out there and theyda come in here and slit us all up the belly. Shoulda just put you out for good an let dogs take your bludy heart.

  It were like the pain was happenin to sumwun else. What was she even gettin the lash for? He’d asked her to get the dust outta the boss’s readin room but there werent no gettin the dust outta this place. This place was made of dust and back into dust it was gunna go. The white roads, the cross, the tower, all of it. Her mind drifted to her mum an Jon an it were like she were dreamin. She remembered Jon teachin her names for the hulks that were close to their home. Them three that sat close together round the old empty water tank they named Yalata, after the faded letters painted on the drum. There were the big burned wun an the other what once had been white. Jon showed her the letters spellin out its name OTA an the specks of paint left on the underneath showin what colour itd been before storm after storm had stripped it back. She could see em clear in her head an near enough feel Jons hand still holdin hers, pullin her up inside the cabin when she were too small to climb. The cat came down again and it were over. Karra pulled her shift down over her back and the feel of the cloth touchin the welts was worse than the whipd been. She took her breath in sharp but she still werent gunna cry. His hands unhooked hers an then they was on her shoulders, makin her sit on the stump she’d been reachin over. He came round and stood in front of her, his hands slow and deliberate.

  Next time I ask you to clean the dust outta the room you gunna do it proper.

  She nodded, watchin his hands with her head half down. She dint want him to see her eyes.

  All that filth out there wants to come in here and kill the boss and kill me and kill you. Yer too thick to get your head around it but me keepin you in line and makin sure peeps know the boss aint payin you too much nevermind is the only thing tween us an the dirt. They see us weak they gunna come in here and take it all. Theys afeard of the boss, he got his rep the hard way but time passes and fellas get forgetful. Start seein weakness where there aint none.

  She nodded again.

  Fuck off with ya then. Dunno why I waste my time splainin to ya.

  She got to her feet, takin little breaths and took slow steps towards the shed. He clapped and she looked back.

  Not that way. Get in there and get ridda that dust you left in there.

  She turned and went back into the house, stripes of blud comin through the back of her rags. He stood watchin her go. Dint know what to make of her. No cryin but then she never had, not even the day they took her off the block and brought her here. Still thought there might be sumthin broken in her head, sumthin not all there. The boss was due back in two days from his trip out inta the desert. Out there tendin the land he always said. Talkin to the dust. The Old Man of the mountain. Karra shook his head. He dint know what the Old Man did out there but he was always headin out on his trips and commin back with all kindsa boxes and bits and pieces. Never short of gold neither, the boss. Nah, Karra reckoned sumwhere out there was a vein of it deep in the red dirt and he knew wun thing real good. It werent gunna be the girl what found it for the old fella, it were gunna be him. Karra looked around and sure he werent bein watched he reached his fingers in his mouth and touched the dusty tips to the stump of his tongue. Sum days he could still feel it in there and hadta check it werent come back. He spat on the ground. Fucken animals out there, stupid Orphan dint know nuthin about it.

  27

  She could hear the Ghosts callin for her blud. They howled like desert dogs sum of em and they had her scent. She leaned as far forwards as she could against the rope, up the incline against the weight of the Open Road. It werent heavy but right now it felt like she was draggin a bag of rocks up the steepest hill she could find an evry coupla seconds she hadta check her tailfeathers and make sure none of em was comin up on her. They could be real quiet when they needed and she werent gunna let em sneak up. She tightened her grip on the bayonet. Up ahead she could see a faint easin of the darkness and she knew she werent moren a few hundred metres from bein out in that beautiful desert sun where them Ghosts werent real keen to go. She picked up her feet and did her best to step faster, roundin the gentle curve and seein the big maw of the world open up in her vision. She had her eyes so fixed on the light that she dint notice a creature sittin with his back to the wall until she were almost level with it and thank the dust the tunnel were real wide and she had plenny of space between her and the shape. She leaped away, a rush in her blud, blade up an dropped low, hand still tight on the rope tied to the Open Road. Her breath was comin hard an she could hear Ghosts in the near distance comin closer. It were him she saw, it were him from the gully, the fella that had hit her with a rock. It were him what had left her sum water and disappeared. It were the Reckoner. His face were covered with the same wrap of cloth and his felt hat was pulled down low. He looked like he mighta been sleepin but out from under the brim was curious eyes colour of water over stone, watchin her drag the ship. He uncoiled himself from the ground real sudden and she dropped the knot from around her waist and kicked the wheelbrake, lockin it in place. She had her long knife up an facin but he dint have nuthin in his hands, just come closer like he done in the gully but keepin his gut clear of her steel. From down in the belly of the spiral was a storm of howlin and she could hear the hammerin of their feet on the ground, echoin up from below, soundin like she’d stirred up sum hell down there.

  Go.

  His voice were a flat scrape, and she couldnt help her self but shiver. She was facin him square, blade out and no more than a step away from him but there was sumthin comin off him that made her guts into water. He was givin her a fear she aint never felt before, not in all the times she diced in the cipher or dodged Ghosts in the dark.

  Go.

  Sure and if he wanted to bleed her out he’d had his chances and hadnt took em. She hadta trust he werent gunna do it now. She turned her back on him and all the fire and water in her belly mixed together and she picked up the rope, unlocked the wheels an charged the slope, not lookin back, ears fulla the sound of the Ghosts, howlin like animals and people mixed and sumhow more terrible for bein both at the same time. Out she ran, out and out, draggin her ship behind, past the metal floor, past the faded black an yellow stripes, past the lockers, past the empty rooms and longsmashed glass. The leavebehinds that the young of the flats carved into trinkets an charms. The terror gave her legs. Out inta the wind and the sun, her eyes painin as they adjusted back to the glare, out inta the scorchin desert that hated her nearly as much as the Ghosts but at least she had her ship.

  She kept runnin as the ground levelled out, puttin s
pace between herself and the entrance, not knowin if sum of em had the masks that let em walk out in the day. Not knowin if she were safe. She put a hundred maybe a hundred an fifty metres between herself and the dark hole of the entrance and then she caught her heavin breath and looked back, unfurlin the sail of the Wide Open Road as she did. The Reckoner were nowhere to be seen but just in the shade of the overhang she could spy four Ghosts, their white bodies reflectin back at her, makin em look like blind spiders what had learned to stand up, two nose in the dirt and the other two hunched over, lookin out at her. She peered close and saw that wun of em had what looked like a mask and as she watched it started fast, lopin towards her. Her heart was still poundin from the run but she kicked the brake off and swung the sail round to catch the wind. The Wide Open Road creaked forwards slow and the thing kept gainin ground, no moren a hundred metres distant and she could see its long white fingers endin in yellowed clawnails. She stuck her foot off the sandship and started pushin hard, catchin the breeze, and when she looked forwards she near shat herself, headin straight for a great boulder that hadta have been put there by Old Nick the badman hisself. She dragged the tiller left, lookin back and comin near face to face with the mask of the Ghost. It swung an arm for her but she musta paid her dues down there in the dark and a gust caught the mainsail an dragged her clear by a few feet. She looked forwards and saw the way open up, good flat saltland with nuthin biggern the spinifex and red marbles, a white spear of concrete runnin deep through it. She turned again and saw the Ghost droppin back, couldnt keep that pace up for long. Behind it she could still see the maw, and like specks, the others standin stiller than any creatures ever did. She thought of the Reckoner an she felt the terror on her again. Were like her mind was runnin away from the picture at the same time she put distance tween herself and him. She couldnt keep his face in her head and she was already forgettin what he looked like. Just that voice like a nail on rusted sheet metal. She turned her gaze back to the frozen dunes and felt the wind on her face. Pullin up her dust mask she kicked back around and pointed her nose towards the System. She werent home by a long stretch. She were out a perilous long way, pendin on the breeze an her fortune. How longd she been down that Glowhole anyway? Not moren a few hours she’da thought but the sun were higher than it shoulda been. Not the first time she’d thought the hours flowed different down below. Time were sticky down there, pulled an parted like them old roads meldin to boots in the midday sun. She dint know what was goin on but nuthin for it but to head to the System. The map was in her pack and Block was gunna wanna see her.