Year of the Orphan

by Daniel Findlay

  She turned her back, half expectin sumthin to come at her but she heard the rusted hinges squeak and the scrape of the latch and then she was standin on the track. Across from her was fresh shacks set up, shoved on top of them what come before an made outta the fresh scav that was getting brung in all the time. Stalls an cando men sellin bits an pieces. More evry day. She looked at the peeps cookin an buildin an then turned away from em, pattin the burned quill in her pocket an movin not slow nor fast down the cut.

  Inside Karra stood starin at the corrugated metal awhile. He werent a bad fella, dun the right thing in the end. Had plans all year to make sure she were stitched up tight but in the end he reckoned she dint know nuthin an it were more hassle than it were worth. He’d woken her outta sleep hadnt he? She’d looked terrified an at the mention of Ghosts it were like she could see em right there. That look on her face evrytime she’d heard the word had gone a long way to helpin evrywun believe theyd been there. And werent it fear of them Ghosts that made the council seem like a real good idea? Now the Orphan hadta go, but Karrad done right by her and nowun in the System or on the council could say different. He stared nowhere for a minute more an then turned away from the closed gate, the Old Mans place to himself.

  39

  Block heard tell of her comin long before she reached his shed. The kids was out weavin around the tyre stacks and he’d even sent a few of his harder heads into the narrows just in case she’d shown her face there. He’d a lad watchin Karras place and the moment she’d gone in the kid had passed the message and tagged another wun to keep watchin. Block dint want to think about what mighta gone down if she hadnt come out. He’d had her ship picked up from the gate and stowed it out back in the hangar. And here she was, comin up the track days late by his reckonin, walkin like she were born to weariness. He stood outside the doorway, sippin water and all the kids sittin back inside, not knowin quite what to make of the girl. She nodded to him as she came close and then at his bottle. He gave it to her.

  Finish it off.

  She ducked her head again in thanks and then gulped what was left.

  Dry.

  You know it.

  You see Karra?

  Yeah.

  Better come inside.

  You got the Open Road?

  Out back with the Taipan.

  Gotta get sumthin from her. And thanks.

  Block dint say nuthin, just jerked his thumb towards the back and went inside. She stepped over a sleepin dog and past a few of Blocks lads. They raised her a watchful glance but dint say nuthin and she went on through an found the ship stowed near as neat and careful as she woulda done herself. Next to it Blocks ship the Taipan sat under a tarp, itself covered with just a light coat of dust, an she bet if she raised the tarp this time she’d find it wrapped an oiled an ready to roll. She unscrewed wun of the spars that ran the length of the Open Roads deck and took out the long, inchthick tube. She shook it out onto the ground and the map slid halfway out. This was the prize. This were the thing she’d been lookin for for a real long time and here it was, just sittin in her hand, not quite real.

  She kept it all tight in her fist and went through, back into the Blocks big shed. There were a lotta yungens around she noticed, lotta kids lookin watchful and maybe a little nervous. A few blades close to hand an she bet others she couldnt see. They watched her pass out the back where Block was sittin at his little desk, all spread out with papers and books and leaves of ledgers. All good fellas and bad come to paper an dust she reckoned. Couldnt escape it in the end. All the books writ long ago and the voices of all them dead peoples was echoin down past all the catastrophe and landin right here in the System. They never saw that comin she reckoned.

  Expectin trouble?

  Block looked up, looked at her hard an then shook his head no. Never hurts to be ready Orphan, thought I taught ya that.

  Yeah ya did.

  Whatcha got there?

  A map I reckon.

  Block looked at what she was holdin an then back up at her. His eyes was sharp an she could see him cravin the knowins she was holdin. She aint seen but three maps the whole time she’d been in the System. The Old Man had wun an Block two but they all had big gaps in the desert all faded red dust and blank like the System werent nowhere, like it never existed, even back in the old times.

  A map of what?

  I think I found it Block. I think I found what the old fella was wantin me to find, the thing he was worryin about all them years.

  She couldnt keep the spark out her voice and he looked funny at her, like he never seen her care about a thing like she was weighin this paper.

  Easy, Orphan. That Old Man worried about plenny of things from what I remember.

  This were the big wun. I think this were the reason he come here in the first place. Cant nowun remember a time without him but I reckon thats just cos he was fearsum old. I reckon he come here lookin for this map or wun like it. Theres things on it he was fixed on, things he’d been lookin for a long time.

  Block stayed quiet a long time.

  Can ya read it?

  Yeah. Most of it. But I reckon I need yer help.

  Block smiled. Yeah and ya always did, dint ya?

  He got up and came round next to her, smellin of sweat and paper like always. He moved a pile of books outta the way and she carefully unrolled the map out across his desk, weighin down the corners. It looked worse the wear from its trip in the spar, an for bein dragged up in her fist from the deep dark. Across the top in black letters was SURVEY TOPOGRAPHY and SATELLITE and a bunch of other words that dint make no sense but down in the middle was lines like the fingerprint of the land. She knew enough from all them years spent learnin with the old fella to know that they was cliffs and gullies and the closer the lines was together the sharper the climb. Lookin down on it was a magic feelin like bein a bird she reckoned. The whole desert laid out in front of her but of course this map were from the old times and there werent no marker for the System. Instead there was a red circle what read, she took it slow, Mount Painter Group Subsidiary Test Mines. That, she reckoned, were wun of the Glowholes she’d been down. She knew they was called mines in the old but that dint make no sense to her. They was Spirals an cuts, Glows an the deep. That were sumwhere round where she figgered she’d run from the Ghosts and the Reckoner, two times now. She’d been near ten days travellin East which meant the System was sumwhere in the middle between Maralinga an where she’d been. She dragged her finger back across the map and made a dent where she reckoned the System might be if she was guessin the distance and scale right. Her finger sat right near a big word that was scuffed an broke with a pin hole torn through the plastic an paper. She could make out the letters COMMONW an her mouth made the shape. It were familiar again but nuthin came clear in her memories. She looked again at the colours and the little specks of blue dotted around.

  Reckon they was water?

  Block nodded.

  She kept her eyes combin the map, seein all them words familiar from the readins of the old fella and them black an yellow circles she’d seen plenny of out on the flats an deep in the Spirals. They meant poison, she knew, the three black wedges an three yellow in the circle. The circle of six, marks of the old. More words she half knew, Emu Field, Taranaki, Ooldea. There was tracks too she’d come across the ruins of em on her scavvin, rails of sandpitted iron, broke up by generations of scavs, an old roads made outta a pale white stone mixed with concrete that were real crumbly in most places but ran deepern she could dig. Now an then she could see theyd been good an flat an perfect for sailin. From overhead they ran all over, this way and that and clean off the edges of the square. On evry other map she ever seen them spots was always plain white nuthin. But here she had it all laid out. She wished the old fella were here to tell her she done good but when she thought about it honest she dint think that sounded much like summin he would say anyway. It were always about the next lesson with that wun. Fuck she missed him sumtimes. Missed her. Sh
e let herself hold that word in her for a moment an the old pain caught her by surprise. Block were nose to the map like he couldnt get close enough to all the lernins and knowins that was flowin out the paper. After a long time he looked up an she saw the fire in his eyes an the wild grin that dint come out real often. Looked like he were a kid again, down the hook. It chilled her a bit.

  This is a new wun, Orphan. I seen maps before but this wun is missin sum places I know of an its got fresh wuns on there that I aint seen before. You got any idea what it means? What all these places are?

  It were a real long story and she werent sure the Block had time for it. Couldnt do nuthin now but take a chance though she reckoned. She put a dirty fingernail on the spot marked Maralinga.

  You already know about the circles of six. I told you what the old bloke told me. Three black, three yellow. The poison. Mark of the beast.

  Block nodded.

  This is all or most of em I think. This is the Glows or like on wun map, all connected, an they was all connected back then too, flat top linkin the big wuns, sealed tracks to others an sum of em nuthin at all. Dunno how they ever got in an out, bad country, cant sail, too steep. The Old Man used to say we had wings. Wun or two fellas makin their own way over the ranges can get through but it aint easy an I dunno how they ever dug so deep. I seen sum strange things in there, they aint settled places, they got rumblins in em, the ground complains if ya stay too long. The water come out the ground hot an I seen plants I never seen no place else. I scavved sum alright stuff out there, sum of its in yer locker I reckon, sum of them small shells. Mostaways though its picked clean or it werent never much to begin with, too far out out, too wild. Thats why they buried their secrets out there. You know that thing I been lookin for.

  The thing you never wanna talk about but you been kinda talkin about as long as I known ya.

  This is that thing. That place. Maralinga.

  An it aint worth nuthin.

  Nuthin an evrythin. The old fella told me it were a bad beast. Done a lot of killin back in them bad times fore they put it in the ground. It’s gotta stay buried. Gotta make sure.

  Block never did need much time to think but he took a hot minute to look up from the map an look at her. I reckon yer right about the circles of six an all of em bein connected. Makes good sense to me an it seems like this might be yer place. But if all thats true why in the fuck you wanna go pokin around in it, Orphan?

  Gotta see whats out there or I reckon the killin aint done.

  Block took a long time fore he spoke. I seen summa these names before in me readins. Read stories about summa these things. Stories about what fellas done.

  He looked at her sharp.

  Stories, Orphan. Tellins like they brung fire on themselves. Tellins like maybe summa this place we in now is part of that place. Called this place the Section, maybe. Told tellins like them that scorched the earth is them same wuns what found the water and dug the unders an started the Stacks. Tellins like them that done them things is our forebears.

  40

  Dark

  Reckoner.

  Im here.

  Your brothers an sisters spoke on you.

  I know it.

  Why do you not reckon?

  I will.

  You know yer not the first.

  I know it.

  It was done before.

  An will be done after.

  Then reckon.

  41

  He was losin count of em. Were it ten? Twenny? He dint know what were strikin em down and his talents as a healer werent much tested these days. He’d taught what he knew to a bunch of fellas on the council and he dint lay hands on peeps no more. Too busy keepin the council in check an figgerin out new ways to keep all them mouths fed. The great huntin parties he’d marshalled was bringin in moren ever but it never seemed enough to keep the whingin council from his door. These sick wuns was takin up his time an sumthin about it bothered him moren he cared it to. Folk died in the System of not enough food or not enough water and he knew enough to recognise peeps whatd been eatin poison things and the whites of their eyes all yellowed and their teeth fallin outta their heads. Seen infections an flyblown fellas with the cloudeye an them with bugs an worms in em an them with fingers an toes gone rotten. Plenny of them goin round, special the clear wine drinkers. Seen snakebite, an heatstroke, an wounds from teeth an blade but this were summin else an he couldnt exactly figger what. It struck an old bell in his mind that were sumhow tied in with the old fella but whatever lesson he’d learned or overheard werent comin back easy, if at all. He paced around his office, crackin his fingers. Real strange. They was weak, sum of em couldnt take food and their teeth was all loose in their gums. Yungens was takin it hardest. Werent no more than a day or two twixt them comin in an cartin their brokenlimbed bodies to the burn. Most was comin in on the West border as well, the councilmen sat out there was raisin hell as best they could. Lookin to him for answers but he aint got none yet. Too much time spent thinkin about that bluddy orphan he reckoned. She’d gone straight to the Block just like he expected and his lads was keepin watch on her there. She aint moved, just gone in there and stayed in there. Good riddance to her, and good riddance to that fucken sneakthief Block and the old fella too while he was cursin. Karra dint have no time right now to be worryin about what she was up to, he got real hassles like if them sick wuns turned into more he was gunna have a problem. Thered be a line out his door of cando men and all the other dregs and hangers on what come with em demandin to know what the council was doin to look after em. But, what if the Orphan had finally found sumthin? Sum vein out there in the Glow. He’d had his boys out lookin for who knew how long? Theyd been comin in for years with scare tales an worthless shit they dug from the oldtime, tryna tell him it were gold or the like. The last lot bringin him earth believe or not. Handfuls of dirt an sayin it come from a special place unnerground. Where was the good stuff? Where was the precious metal? Had enough of em. Had sent scavs to the winds for years an years and never found no great haul. The last of them lyin dogs he’d sent searchin a month ago was staked out, could tell their stories to the beasts an the Ghosts. Bring their shit to sum other fool. Their bones was clean by now, singin songs to the moon. He aint never seen nuthin of the Old Mans treasure in spite of years searchin an more readin. Tryna make sense of the old world an always comin up short. Now the Orphan come back lookin all suss and if he’d learned wun thing, it werent no accident when his path crossed sumwun else. Saved his life a few times that feelin, werent no such thing as coincidence. Werent no such animal in the System. It were all there in front of him, he knew it. The Orphan and the gold and Block, they was all connected sumhow but it werent comin clear just yet. It were odd times like this where he was hatin the Old Man but a little part was wishin he were here to ask. Karra banished the thought. That ship been sailed a long time. He paced back an forth, tryin not to let his eye catch all them books he couldnt proper understand.

  42

  Before

  Ya know how you can see sounds and taste the places ya been? Ya know how words got colours? Not evrywuns like that. In fact, I aint never seen nowun like that. Ya gotta keep all them things on ya chest ya hear? Dust, its been a long time since I come up and dust knows I probly aint seen sum of the trouble yer gunna but indulge an old fella, sorry, an old dam like me, we can say that out here, just these once and twice, feels nice that ya know, I gotta tell ya girl.

  They sat in the shade of a gum and the old fella, or old dam as she liked out here, was brewin sum leaves. They was near a days sail from the System, further than they usually went. Took the Old Mans ship that were stowed most of the year. Karra was mindin the station, dust knew what that meant but the bossd seen fit to get em out here. Seemed to think it were important evry few months to head out and check on the old places. Here and there was paintins, marks and leave behinds from long before any kinda bad times and the boss liked to point em out.

  Yer cant go tellin nowun what
ya can see or special how ya can see it. You got that speck of sumthin else about ya like yer the next thing comin Orphan. Peeps gunna get real afeard of ya if they start realisin just how different ya might actually be. Ah yer a good wun Orphan, just I can feel sumthin big comin past the Boundaries and I dunno how much longer Im gunna be around. Im gettin terrible old ya see, even older than I was all them years ago and I werent young then. Even back then I were a bad dam, a kinda bad fella ya know. I got the blud of lots of blokes on me hands over the years, an most of em prolly deserved it wun way or the other but who out here dont sumtimes? Plenny still livin that mighta earned a dust nap too. But I came out that mountain country I told ya about an I walked the East roads and seen them burned cities an I spent years off the roads avoidin them what prowled an hunted until most of em saw each others end and I seen sum terrible reckonings out there an sum I put on fellas meself. An then the fella what spilled the blud walked West an West an West an then I come here. I became a healer and it werent a bad way for me to put a few things right what I put bad, even if the balancin of the books was only ever in me head. I do go on dont I, an you a patient wun, gunna serve ya good Orphan, mark me.

  43

  Block were preppin to ship and there werent much she could do about it. She couldnt pretend she werent glad to be havin him out on the sand again with her but she knew there was sumthin she hadnt been full upfront about. He were mutterin like he were complainin and she could tell a part of it were real enough what with Karra and his fellas gettin bolder near evry day and the Ghost stories gettin worse and worse. Sum of Blocks fellas had come down sick too an word was gettin around that there were plenny more out there, hunkered down an weak. The boys on the mornin water run came back sayin there werent nowun around an they dint even have to scrap down at the wells. Sumthin werent right an she dint put it past Karra to be workin up sum kinda scare to make himself king, sum kinda fresh terror that were gunna make him even stronger. Nah, she reckoned the best place for Block were here but there werent much what could stop him though once his course was set. He’d fellas he could trust enough to keep it held down. Theyd been inta the books all night and she’d spilled mosta what the old fellad told her about the long ago. Sum of it were surprisin to him but more than a little were things he’d read about or lerned or had his own daydreamins about and by the time most of the talkin was done she had herself a blud settin his heart to travel alongside her. Only thing was he dint know bout the Reckoner and even now, only a while or so on she had to touch the back of her head where she’d healed up to make sure that it werent all sum kinda fever dream that she’d fallen into out there on the flatland.