Dark Side of the Moon

by P. C. Rasmussen

  "... in the act," one of the men holding onto Pete said, his tone angry.

  Stella raised both hands. "What are you talking about, Devon? What'd he do?" she asked.

  "He tried to fucking rape me is what he did," came a voice from somewhere behind the group. The others pulled away a little, letting the petit-looking woman through. She had a burning red bruise on one cheek and her prison garb was torn around the neckline. "Good thing that asshole didn't see my knee coming."

  Stella frowned and then glanced at Pete before turning her attention to Kyle. "You know this man, don't you?" she asked.

  Kyle met Pete's eyes, reading the plea in them and deciding instantly to feed him to the wolves. There was no way he would stand up for Pete. It struck him from what Pete had said previously that he had no further information to impart, which meant Pete was of no further use to him. "I know him," he agreed and barely prevented a tight smirk from gracing his lips when Pete looked relieved. "Doesn't mean I like him. He's the reason I'm here, after all."

  Stella's eyebrows shot up and she turned to fully face him. "He's the one who set you up?" she asked, jabbing a thumb over one shoulder in Pete's direction.

  "The same," Kyle agreed, his gaze locked on Pete's. The Albino would have paled if he could. "Rape and murder," he added and then glanced at the girl Pete had obviously attacked. "You can count yourself lucky that he didn't follow through."

  She stared back at him, her expression tight. "And you thought it was a good idea to invite this scuzzbucket in here?" she demanded.

  All attention was now on Kyle and he didn't much like the implications, but before he could say anything, Stella intervened.

  "Kyle had other things on his mind when they came in," she said. "And regardless of who brought him here, I don't think we'll get a fight from Kyle when it comes to dealing with this scumbag." She turned back to eye Pete. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

  Pete looked worried, and rightfully so. "I didn't ..." He hesitated, glanced at Kyle in search of help he wouldn't get, then looked directly into Stella's eyes, his lips pressed into a thin line. "Look, this is a prison for the criminally insane, isn't it? I didn't think ..."

  "... that crap like rape would be frowned upon?" Stella cut him off. "You know, under normal circumstances I would say that you could count yourself among the lucky few that you didn't carry through with the act, but judging from the way Julia looks, you were pretty intent on getting your way. And we don't appreciate shit like that here. We have a reputation for a reason; we don't put up with bullshit like that from anyone. People feel safe here - those that we accept into our midst - and we want it to stay that way. You've upset that balance and we don't dawdle around when it comes to handing out punishments. Unlike on Earth, the death sentence is very much active up here."

  Pete stared at her. "You can't be serious," he whispered.

  Stella folded her arms over her chest. "You have no idea how serious I am," she said, her tone dark and sinister. "You like raping girls? Well, let's see how you do against the loonies."

  She had barely finished before the two men holding onto Pete's arms started dragging him away.

  "Kyle! Don't let them do this, man. It was a mistake. I didn't mean anything by it," Pete tried desperately.

  Kyle held up a hand, stopping the two men from dragging Pete away. He stepped closer and got right in Pete's face. "You sent me to my doom because you're a chicken-shit rapist and killer," Kyle countered tightly. "I don't care what they do to you." And it was completely true. He didn't care. He was actually curious about how the gardeners meted out their punishments. It had to be extreme to give them the reputation of being man-eating monsters.

  Pete obviously had nothing to say to that, just stared at him with wide eyes, and the two men holding onto him started moving again. Kyle followed them and realized that they were heading toward the tunnel that led to dome 4. They dragged him through the housing area on the other side without attracting any curious glances from the residents, and into the tunnel to dome 5. Halfway down the tunnel, the two men dragging Pete released him and one of them gave him a shove. "Go on, git," he said. "See how long you make it in there."

  Pete hesitated, one foot on the dark side, one on the light, his gaze searching out Kyle. "Kyle, please," he tried again.

  "Don't ask any favors of me, man. You set me up and then you didn't stand up for me when I needed your help," he countered evenly. "And now you expect me to stand up for you?" He snorted. "How stupid do you think I am?"

  It was obvious that the Albino was terrified, but Kyle really didn't care and it was obviously showing. After a moment, Pete sighed dejectedly and sent a look down the dark end of the tunnel. "What's down there?"

  "You'll find out," Stella said. "Now move."

  Pete shifted a little. "And what if I don't?" he asked, still inspecting the tunnel visually.

  Stella merely smiled. "You'll find out," she repeated.

  Apparently, Pete wasn't happy about the hostile vibes, and after a moment where he loitered around the edge of darkness, he decided to check out the dark end of the tunnel. It didn't take long before he disappeared from sight. The majority of those assembled started to disperse, but Stella, the two guys who had dragged Pete here, and Kyle remained behind. "You've been in there twice now, haven't you?" she asked.

  "Yeah," Kyle agreed. He wasn't as much watching as listening now. All he could hear was the sound of faraway footsteps. Pete was making his way into dome 5.

  "And you got away without a scratch," Stella mused.

  "Yeah. But, then again, I think I've struck up a friendly banter with Skinny Guy," he said with a smirk. "I think the guy likes me because I didn't fear him or acted aggressive."

  "I think you're right," Stella agreed. "Not many get away with what you've done, but a few have. I have," she said.

  The two guys took their leave of them after a moment when it became evident that Pete wasn't trying to come back this way. Kyle glanced at Stella. "You have?" he asked and she nodded.

  "Yeah. Went in there with the same attitude. At the time, I thought it was time to call it quits and since I'm not too fond of the idea of dying from lack of air and being squished to death ... I figured I could maybe convince the loonies to take me out quick. I wasn't scared when I went in and I came out again with a new sense of belonging," she explained. "Only met one of them, but it made all the difference."

  Kyle considered her words for a moment, then frowned and glanced at her again. "Are you saying that ... one of the loonies convinced you not to kill yourself?"

  "In a sense," Stella agreed. "We struck a deal. At the time we had our share of trouble with them. They kept grabbing people and they never came back. So, this guy suggested that if we made sure they got what we considered criminals they would leave the rest of us alone. And they've kept that promise. I think that's mainly where our rep as man-eaters comes from."

  Kyle couldn't help a surprised chuckle. "So, you feed them and they leave you alone?"

  Before Stella could answer, a high-pitched scream reverberated down the tunnel. Kyle couldn't help himself. He dashed forward until he reached the mouth of the tunnel and listened until his eyes got used to the gloom. The continued shrieking somewhere across the expanse told him that Pete had either made it all the way across or the loonies had grabbed him and dragged him over there. He could make out a cluster of moving bodies over there, but that was all.

  Stella stepped up beside him, squinting in the gloom.

  "What's going on? What are they doing to him?" Kyle asked.

  She grabbed his shoulder when he made a move to start walking. "Curiosity killed the cat, Kyle," she warned. "This is not the time to go in there. Whatever is hiding in dome 6, that's what's got your friend screaming. I've heard it before and one guy I knew tried to get closer to see what was happening. He ended up in the same position."

  "Taylor?" Kyle asked, remembering that she had mentioned
the guy whose only remains had been his head.

  "No, not Taylor," she said with a light shake of the head. "Come on. Let's get back to the light. The feeding riles them up. They don't know friend from foe when the bloodlust hits them," she added and pulled at his shoulder to get him to turn around.

  The shrieks stopped abruptly and were replaced by the low rumble of excited voice. "Yeah, let's leave," Kyle agreed and followed her back through the tunnel. He hadn't survived this far by being stupid and something told him that staying here would be stupid right now.

  Once back in dome 4, Kyle noted that none of the inhabitants of this dome took notice of the events. They all went about their business, not paying any attention to anyone. Kyle watched them for a moment while they walked back toward the tunnel to dome 3. "What is it with people in this dome? Don't they give a shit about others?" he asked.

  "No, and why should they? Nobody cares about them either," Stella countered with a light shrug.

  Chapter 6

  To be or not to be

  The idea of getting to dome 1 to find Bark remained an idea for the time being. Kyle hadn't seen Dunc for a day or two and couldn't help but wonder if he'd sent the big guy to his death; and it worried him. Not because he had any special affinity for the big guy, but because it wouldn't make him look good to the other gardeners and, most prominently, wouldn't allow him to cross dome 2 without risk of being attacked.

  So he stayed and he brooded, which he did to such an extent that it started to worry Daniel. The kid found him at the pen of those oversized bug cows and spent a moment staring at them as if he'd just seen the Devil himself and couldn't decide if he should run or stay.

  "What are you doing here?" he finally asked and glanced sideways at Kyle.

  "Watching the moon cows," Kyle countered. He stood with his lower arms folded and resting on top of the fence, one foot propped up on the lower bar.

  "Moon cows?" Daniel made a face in distaste. "I still can't believe we ate that," he muttered, then shuddered lightly. "Are you okay?"

  Kyle glanced at him and briefly wondered if this was one of these moments that called for a straw of grass between his teeth. This was sort of a farmer-moment, he thought, and couldn't help smirking at the idea. "Yeah, sure. Why?"

  One of the moon cows decided to change position and turned its massive body around to face them. It didn't raise its tiny little head or stop 'grazing', but it moved closer to where they stood, which caused Daniel to take an almost careful step backward while he eyed it like someone might eye a man-eating tiger out of its cage.

  Kyle thought that reaction was a bit over the top. "You don't honestly think this thing is going to eat you, do you?" he asked.

  Daniel blinked rapidly a few times, glanced at Kyle briefly, then looked back at the critter with obvious dislike. "Eat me? No, I don't think they're going to eat me. I just don't like ... bugs."

  "You've mentioned that," Kyle said and looked in at the creature. The ground inside the pen looked pretty much clean and he wondered if the creatures were actually grazing or just standing around, waiting for no one to watch them so they could levitate out of there and eat dust elsewhere. The idea made him grin, then chuckle.

  "You think they're funny?" Daniel asked, both surprise and confusion edging his tone.

  "I think the idea of them ..." Kyle stopped himself, well aware that if he aired his idea of the possibility that the moon cows could actually leave their pen whenever they wanted by suspending gravity, Daniel might never sleep again. He couldn't get himself to do that to the kid. "Yeah, I think they're funny," he amended. "I mean, look at them. They're like oversized dust mites. And they actually eat dust."

  "They're ... aliens," Daniel muttered and grimaced lightly by pursing his lips and dragging the corners down. It made him look like a prissy old woman.

  Kyle struggled against his urge to laugh out loud and instead grabbed the younger man's shoulder. "Relax, man. If those are aliens, we have nothing to fear," he said with a nod at the moon cows.

  "What if they're connected somehow to what's in dome 6?" Daniel took another step back, obviously scaring himself right now.

  Truth be told, after witnessing the demise of Pete - at least Kyle assumed that Pete was dead - that thought didn't sit too well with him either. And it brought back the memory of those vivid dreams he'd had, one of which had landed him in the middle of dome 5 without him knowing how it had happened. "Don't work yourself into a frenzy, kiddo," Kyle tried, but found it a little hard to see the hilarity of the situation now.

  "You think I'm right, don't you?" Daniel asked, sudden fear lacing his voice. "You didn't think about that before, but you think I'm right."

  "No, I don't," Kyle countered a little sharply and gave Daniel a frown for his trouble. "Chill out. We don't even know if there is anything in dome 6 apart from crazy crab-crawling loonies."

  The dark look in Daniel's eyes did nothing to subdue the idea. "That's a tautology," he said quietly.

  Kyle arched an eyebrow. "What?" he asked.

  "Crazy loonies," Daniel elaborated. "That's a tautology."

  That again made Kyle chuckle. He reached up to ruffle Daniel's hair, which the younger man took with a confused look. "You're too clever for your own good, kid," Kyle said. "Let's head back to the others."

  Together they headed back to the main clearing. "Are you sure you're okay?" Daniel asked right before they stepped off the path.

  Kyle paused and frowned at him. "Dude, why are you so worried about me? I'm human. I have mood swings like everyone else."

  Daniel's expression tightened a little when he looked away. "You just ... seem so upbeat most of the time, like nothing gets to you," he said in a small voice.

  That started him thinking. He hadn't been aware that his attitude had been that bad lately. "Sorry, kiddo. Didn't mean to freak you out here. And yeah, generally I'm a pretty upbeat kinda guy. I guess I'm as worried about this place as you are. I just try not to show it." He smiled lightly. "Stop worrying about me, Dan. I'm fine. I always bounce back."

  The thrum of people talking and working washed over them when they stepped out into the main clearing. Daniel paused again and looked around, then pursed his lips lightly. "You know, no matter how nice these guys are ... I still don't feel safe here."

  "It has to be better than dome 2," Kyle tried, even though he did understand why Daniel still didn't feel safe. There just wasn't anything he could do to remedy the situation right now.

  Daniel nodded. "Yeah, it is," he agreed and caught sight of Stella waving him over. "Well, I gotta go," he added.

  "Dan," Kyle said, stopping him before he could get going. "Keep in mind at all times that nobody should be able to force you to do anything you don't wanna do. If planting crap together with Stella isn't your cup of tea, you just tell her."

  "I don't mind that. It's actually kinda fun," Daniel countered. "But I don't think I'll ever be able to relax here. It's just too ..." He shrugged halfheartedly.

  "Yeah, I know. It's like being stuck in Hell most of the time, isn't it?" Kyle agreed even though he didn't see it that way; at least not anymore. Hope was a curious thing. It paved roads where roads usually couldn't go and Kyle was the type of person who latched onto hope whenever he could. He wouldn't see the glass as half empty until someone drained it right in front of him. "Meet me for dinner a bit later, Dan. There's something I wanna talk to you about," he added.

  Daniel gave him a curious look, then nodded and jogged across the compound to where Stella stood waiting for him. Yeah, it was about time to dish out a little hope and if that meant letting Daniel in on all his plans right now, then so be it. The kid had mentioned that he didn't want to know about anything unless it was set in stone, but Kyle just needed to share and he needed to include Daniel in this.

  ***

  Clearing the path

  It took two more days before Kyle found out what had happened to Dunc. He was once again sitting at on
e of the tables, drinking coffee, eating fruit, and watching Daniel's continued interest in saplings and how to plant them, when Mike joined him. He got his own mug of coffee and settled down next to Kyle, his eyes on the planting tables and Stella.

  "How's tricks?" he asked after a moment and focused on Kyle.

  Kyle met his eyes and briefly wondered why Mike, who wasn't the talkative type, would even bother joining him. "Can't complain," he said, then tilted his head to the right and smirked. "Well, I could, but what's the point, right?"

  "You bored with this place yet?" Mike asked and shifted his attention back to the planting table.

  "Bored? Well, I guess so. I don't have green thumbs. Growing things isn't my idea of fun and there doesn't seem to be much else for me to do around here." Kyle, who had returned to watching Daniel, briefly glanced back at Mike. "Something wrong?"

  "Wrong?" Mike made a face and sipped his coffee. "Good question. Just realized yesterday that Dunc and his posse have disappeared for a few days."

  'Oh crap,' Kyle thought. If the older man told him that their bodies had been found, he figured he would have some explaining to do. But he wasn't the type to blurt out his concerns and thereby give himself away. "Oh?" he asked instead.

  "Yeah," Mike agreed. "Ran into him this morning, though," he added, which instantly settled Kyle's nerves. "He and the others have been on a little hunt." Here Mike glanced at Kyle and Kyle got the distinct impression that the older man knew he had suggested this to Dunc and his posse. "A successful hunt, it would seem. The guy gets high from wasting others."

  "Is that a fact?" Kyle asked and leaned forward, feigning interest. "Who'd they go after?"

  Mike gave him a sharp look. "As if you didn't know, Kyle," he countered evenly. "I discourage random killings, you know. There's too much crap going on here to allow people to go nuts for no reason."