by Imran Siddiq
Diego’s palm slapped over his nose and mouth.
Zachary chuckled. “Not used to the smell, are you?”
“It’s much cleaner where I come from.”
“I bet it is.” He waved his hand in the air. “Time to start your first shift. Head down, eyes sharp, and keep me in sight.”
“And the drop?”
Zachary looked for particle-infested vapour under the ceiling’s glowing diodes. None of the lines of smoke indicating locations of impact were present. There hadn’t been a drop today.
“When the turbines turn, get to me quick.”
Caution marked Diego’s steps between the mounds of rubble. “I know you don’t want to be here, but thanks. I promise to return the favour when the time comes.”
Zachary watched the recruit sink further into darkness until only a grey outline remained. Although he’d broken his rule of hunting alone, he was aware that an odd feeling had surfaced. Had he made a friend?
Shut up. I hardly know the guy.
Half an hour later, they regrouped between two ridges. Screws and corded wires of different sizes poured out of Zachary’s pockets. He gestured smudged fingers at the recruit.
Diego placed, and undid, a weighty damp bag on Zachary’s palm. Small thumb-sized balls rolled into his palm, clunking as they collided. There were three silver ones, four blue ones, and several decorated with squiggled patterns.
“Oh my days,” said Zachary. He bit onto a hard silver ball. Cold tingles surged over his tongue followed by a light metallic taste. “Marbles. This is the rarest of the rare. Each one must be worth – at least – ten Leos.”
“One hundred and ten,” gasped Diego. “We’ll share it. You take five –”
“Share?” Zachary’s throat almost ruptured. “You never share your prize.” He thrust the bag forward. “If I were desperate, even then I wouldn’t.”
Stunned, Diego took the bag. “If I weren’t here, you might have found it.”
“Stop thinking like that. You’ll get walked over if you act like this with anybody else. Don’t make me hate you.”
Zachary’s right-side pocket shuddered. What? The Raptor? He turned his body, slapping the vibrating pocket. Who could be contacting him? Rosa? Her parents? Had she notified the authorities? It’d been her idea for him to take the Intercom. Had she tricked him? Zachary bit his lower lip, knowing that he couldn’t claim that he’d found the Intercom. Her bot had seen him. Bots could record things. Walking processors. She’d confirm that he’d been there – below her home.
The vibrating stopped.
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” said Diego.
Zachary swallowed, keeping his hand over his pocket.
The Raptor vibrated again.
He wondered if his effort to unlock the Intercom earlier had sent a signal to alert others. The Intercom stopped vibrating. How long before it started again? Whoever it was, they’d continue their attempt until somebody answered it.
“I have to go,” muttered Zachary.
“Go?” Diego stepped forward. “Where?”
“I forgot … to pass a message on. I have to go.”
“What?” spluttered Diego. “Is it because of the marbles? I’m sorry.”
“No – not the marbles. Go back to the mounds and wait for me. I won’t be long.” He dashed away. “I’ll be back.”
That was enough. Darting without stopping, Zachary ran for a minute. He reached the overhanging bank with the abandoned vehicles.
As predicted, the Raptor vibrated with blue lights encircling a green and a red circle on the Intercom’s outer shell. Clutching the Intercom close to his face, he gulped. A moment of panic seized him. No need to answer; he could smash it.
Hand shaking, Zachary tapped the green circle.
“Hello,” he croaked.
Chapter 7 - Fail
High-pitched rattling escaped the Raptor Intercom.
Fearing face-melting shards bursting onto him, Zachary dropped the device, muffling its crackling on the ground.
“Are you there?” came a masculine voice as Zachary grasped the Raptor.
His eyes darted over the dusty scratches on the outer shell. There was no name or detail to identify the caller. He didn’t have to respond. Control rested in his hands.
“Zachary?” said the Intercom. “Can you hear me?”
Scraping skin off his chapped lips with his teeth, he paused. “Hello.”
“Thank God,” crackled the device. “I thought you might have sold it already.”
“Who is this?”
“It’s me, Rosa,” expressed the Intercom, surprised that he’d dared to raise the question. “Do I really sound that different on these things?”
Zachary frowned at the Intercom. Had he damaged it whilst moving? It should have been perfect. Why the static damage?
“You sound like you’re in the middle of a turbine,” he said.
“Middle of a turbine?” murmured the deep voice. “Oh, I get it. Shake the Raptor. Either the receptors haven’t adjusted to your location, or maybe it doesn’t work down there. Do you have contact devices there?”
He shook it for five seconds.
Rosa’s voice returned to its gentle tone on the last shake. “Any better?”
“Yes.”
“Where were you? I called twice before.”
Her questioning shook Zachary’s squatted posture. His brow relaxed with a tingling sensation, forcing him to smile. He had demoted their meeting to being the one time that they’d speak together; yet, here they were, speaking again.
“I was busy,” replied Zachary.
“Scavenging?” stressed Rosa.
“I was with –” There was no need for her to know about the recruit. “There were others near me, and I didn’t want them to see it.”
Static masked her comment. He shook the Intercom again.
“You didn’t answer my question,” whined Rosa.
“What question?” His jaw dropped.
“Why have you still got the Raptor?” Rosa giggled. “I thought you’d be desperate to sell it.”
“I am,” he replied, asserting belief. “I’ll do it later. I didn’t want to hand it over before I’d spent a day in the Wastelands. They’d get suspicious. Ask questions.”
“Shrewd move.”
A fearful thought jerked Zachary. What if the Raptor vibrated at the moment he placed it into Shekhar’s scrawny hands? “You mustn’t call me again.”
“I know. I won’t. I just had to, because …” her tone dipped, “I shouldn’t have given you the Raptor. It was a mistake. I know I can’t have it back, so don’t shout at me. But my parents, they’ll know something isn’t right.” Her words quickened. “I had two Raptors. I didn’t tell them that my first was stolen. I just replaced it with my backup. When I tell them that I’ve lost one, they’ll tell me to use the other. But I can’t, because you’ve got it. They’re going to be so mad at me. They will want to know why I didn’t tell them.”
“I don’t understand why they would care? You can get another. You’re an Overworlder. You’ve got money.”
“It’s not that simple. Mother never wanted me to get a Raptor in the first place. She never saw the point in them. It’s not like I have friends or anybody to call. After a while, Father gave in, but he always warned me to be careful. I had strict instructions about using it, and I’ve broken every single one of them.”
“How are you calling me?”
“I’m using my mother’s now. I’ll have to wipe this call afterwards.”
Zachary scowled. “Lie to them. Tell them that the first one stopped working. You dropped it, and the battery cell broke. And when they ask about the second, say it didn’t work. I’ve heard people say that things can burn out if they’ve never been activated. You know, past its use-by-date. Say your bot checked the Raptor and it’s a dud. Will your bot lie for you?”
“Course she will. And her name’s Alice.” The speakers sounded
like her teeth were chattering. “I think that could work.”
Zachary smiled. “Remember, it’s only an Intercom. It’s not alive. It’s an object. If your parents do find out about it being stolen, won’t they be glad that you’re safe?”
Rosa sighed. “You’re right. God knows what the thieves are doing with the one they stole.”
“Don’t worry about it. My droid broke it into pieces.”
“What?”
The sharp tone cut him deep. Zachary rolled his eyes wondering why he spoke to her. He didn’t owe her an explanation. One press and the Raptor would shut off. The choke that Rosa’s silence caused didn’t loosen. “You won’t believe this.”
“Try me,” came her flat voice.
“I found it in the drop, yesterday.”
“The drop?”
“Drops come from the ceiling that would be your underground, or something like that. That’s how things end up in Underworld. They get dropped here.” Zachary considered that explanation would suffice. “Your Intercom was in a metal box. There was a Harmon bracelet inside with the Intercom.” He imagined two narrowed eyes cursing him. “I swear that I had nothing to do with it being stolen.”
“You’re lying.”
“I know it looks as if I stole it, and that I came back to steal something else. I get that. That’s what some scavengers do when they find a rewarding spot. But I’m asking you to trust me. I didn’t steal it.”
No reply. Not a sound.
A tinny hum convinced Zachary that she hadn’t disconnected the call.
“The thief left a message in the box. It said something about the location being right and Project Century.”
“Centurion,” said Rosa.
“Yeah – that’s it.”
Her breaths crackled out of the Raptor. “What else did it say?”
“Nothing.” Zachary screwed his mouth. Why had she reacted in that manner on a single word? What was the significance of it?
“Anyway,” he continued. “When my dad told me about his job at the Kade residence, I went along.”
“The note mentioned my name?”
Zachary closed his eyes, wondering why he couldn’t shake off the honest sense of responsibility inside him. “My droid hacked your Intercom and found your surname.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“I was curious.”
“No – not you. Them. The thieves. It’s all connected. The theft. The attack. It’d been planned. They’ve been watching us. Waiting. Stinking protesters that won’t let go of the past,” said Rosa.
What did she mean about the past?
“What do the protesters want?” asked Zachary.
“I don’t care. All they care about is upheaval. Changes to suit them. Rule-breaking. They don’t understand anything about Galilei.” Rosa groaned aloud. “If I’d told Father, he could have done something to stop them. We would have been prepared.”
“But you’re alive. They only damaged the outer shell.”
“And next time? And the time after that? Don’t you get it? They were testing us. Finding the weak spots. They’ve probably recorded how long it took for Father’s security to respond, and how we cleared it up. What if they use a bigger ship next time? Bombs? Or they just come straight for my home?”
Rosa sniffled. “I have to tell my father when he returns from Assayer.”
Zachary’s fingers curled around the warm Raptor, regretting the truth he’d told. “You won’t tell him about me, will you?”
“No, I won’t. You said you hacked in, and I have to be careful that you don’t do that again. I need you to wipe this Raptor’s memory. I should have done it before giving it to you. Stupid me.”
“As in clear the memory?” Zachary counted the Leo-coins disappearing if he handed in a damaged Intercom. “My droid hacked your first one because it was damaged. This one’s still password locked.”
“Come on,” moaned Rosa. “Since when did a password stop a hacker? Hang on, am I on the speaker? Are you alone? Like alone-alone?”
“Yeah. Just me.”
“Interesting. Hold the Raptor up by your face. Squeeze the black ridges on the lower case. It’s underneath. You can’t miss them. An image that resembles a blue face will appear. Press it.”
“What will that do?”
“You asked me to trust you, well, now it’s your turn. Do it. Please.”
Zachary absorbed her final word. Nobody in Underworld used it. He couldn’t recall the last time his dad had used it either.
The glow of the Intercom showed the necessary ridges to squeeze. A blue circle with two eyes and an upturned mouth hovered above the upper screen. He pressed it. His palm itched at the circular lights intensifying. In midair, Rosa’s perfect face materialised. How he wished he could remove the blue tint.
Zachary’s heart beat fast when her eyes flicked around. “Can you see me?”
Rosa squinted. “Stop ruffling your hair. You’re only making it worse. It’s so dark. Are you in a cave?”
“Kind of. I shouldn’t do this. It’s dangerous. If anybody catches me …”
Rosa’s hair hung straight with a sloped wave across her brow as she looked aside. “I thought I’d see something I recognised, other than your face. Everything seems empty. Like a blank page that’s been painted black.”
“It’s not all empty. We have piles of things out there.”
Rosa grinned. “I meant empty metaphorically.”
Zachary nodded, pretending to understand.
Her lips rehearsed without sound. “Are you always alone? Do you have any friends?”
“Just Patch. My Haulage-404 droid.”
“That’s kind of like me and Alice.”
“No way. Patch’s got one arm, no legs, and one working eye. He’s just good at decorating our wall at home. I turn him on, now and again.”
Rosa face squirmed. “A part-time friend then.”
“Zachary!” yelled a husky voice. Diego. He sounded close.
Pinning himself against an overturned digger, he peered outward. He couldn’t let the recruit see him with the Raptor.
Zachary grimaced. “I have to go.”
Rosa’s face shuddered. “What’s wrong? Is there someone coming? You look like you’re about to cry.”
Diego’s voice rang out again. Closer.
Zachary clenched his teeth. “Can you still call me if I wipe the memory?”
“Not if you’re going to act like this. What have I done? I thought we were getting along.” Rosa sat back, spreading her arms. Her buttoned shirt stretched across her shoulders.
“You haven’t done anything.”
“Then why the hurry to wipe the memory?”
“Because you want me to, don’t you?” he snapped.
“Fine. The password is FAIL. F. A. I. L. Go to the Settings screen and enter that code again in the Memory Reset Section. That’ll wipe the memory and deactivate the locator beacon.”
Zachary stuttered. “You have a locator beacon in here?”
“All Intercoms do.”
His hand trembled around the Raptor. It could be transmitting his position at this very moment. “Who knows I’ve got this?”
“No one, apart from me and Alice. We haven’t notified anybody of it being missing. It’s not like patrollers are going to storm in.”
“Patrollers?”
“Stop worrying about it.”
“Stop worrying? I shouldn’t be speaking with you.” Zachary looked through the cracks of the vehicles. Where was the recruit?
“I shouldn’t have called.” Rosa shut her eyes. “Just wipe the Raptor. Wipe it.”
Her arm bolted forward, and then the blue haze of her figure disappeared.
She was gone.
Weakened warm sensations pulsed under Zachary’s thumb as he pushed the Raptor against his cheek. Had he overreacted? Rosa asked him to trust her. She said that she hadn’t activated the locator beacon, but she should have told him about the locators at th
e start.
“There you are,” announced Diego, skidding to a halt next to the vehicles.
Heart lunging from his chest, Zachary yelped. He rammed the Intercom into his coat pocket.
Diego waved his tar-mucked hands. “Where have you been?”
“I told you. I had to see someone.” Zachary left the vehicles.
“What, here?” queried Diego, looking back to the rusty stack.
“Someplace else. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been to see them.” Zachary changed the subject. “Find anything else?”
As if on cue, the ceiling-embedded turbines spun clockwise. He patted Diego’s arm to observe the jutting domes. Two other turbines, a hundred metres from those above, spun. Within seconds, ten more joined in, adding to the increased vapour of particles.
“How many drops a day are there?” asked Diego.
Unease chilled Zachary. “Usually one.”
Triangular sections of the ceiling, one by one, ejected downward sending multiple wide beams of light into the Wastelands. Bewildered, Zachary covered his eyes, peering upward. Was this a malfunction?
“It’s everywhere,” he said, pointing to the sections beaming down beyond the hills into the residential areas.
Tiny shapes, clustered to the centre, rolled out of the ceiling. They scattered further apart. Floating closer, their nature became clear; sheets of paper.
“This isn’t normal,” remarked Zachary, clasping the first sheet within reach.
The light from above slimmed to darkness as the triangular sections rose back to the ceiling, but Zachary read enough to bring goose bumps up all over his neck.
“Districts One to Four to be evacuated.”
Chapter 8 - Delete
Labourers from the Far-Wall mixed within the frantic crowd in the bartering camp. Even they hadn’t escaped the paper drop.
Inside the stall, Shekhar’s head jerked like a wrenched bolt toward Zachary. “You’re back too? Is everyone striking because of some sick joke? Fine, give me your stuff and get out of here. I expect double off you all tomorrow.”
Diego submitted the bag of marbles. Sparkles off the contents almost distracted Zachary from the object beside Shekhar’s heel. A decapitated human head. Letting other scavengers pass him, Zachary lowered his gaze a little. That had to be a part of Biro’s android. Light brown skin with curled black hair, and no eyes.